Embodied Knowledge and Gender Legitimacy

Sor Juana insisted that knowledge obtained through direct experience and observation held validity equal to received authority. This epistemological stance deeply challenges how cisgender identity is often discussed—as something to be explained by biology, psychology, or sociology rather than trusted as lived knowledge. Your embodied experience of inhabiting a gendered body, navigating social spaces as a particular gender, and developing gender identity over time constitutes legitimate expertise. Medical and psychological authorities often position themselves as primary interpreters of gender, but this framework centers the knowledge you possess simply by living as a gendered being. This doesn't mean ignoring scientific insights, but rather recognizing that experts should be dialoging with your embodied knowledge, not replacing it. For cisgender people especially, whose identity is often treated as transparent or natural, this means claiming authority over articulating your actual experience: How does embodiment feel to you? What has inhabiting this gender taught you? Your answers to these questions are valid forms of knowledge that deserve intellectual respect and integration into any discussion of your gender identity.