Gender identity

The concept of "gender identity" is at the core of heated current philosophical and political debates. But it is far from clear what it means to have a gender identity. I examine several ways of making sense of this concept, in light of certain desiderata: The concept should, ideally, make good trans people’s claims concerning their own gender identities, the claim that denying one’s gender identity, or misgendering, is a form of serious harm, the claim that that the criterion for gender identity is self-identification, and, possibly, also the claim that we all have a gender identity. I conclude that none of the considered accounts of “gender identity” is successful, and I defend an eliminativist view concerning this concept.