Volume 33, 2026
Wrestling with Essentialism: the Dharmas of “Gender” in Later Theravāda Scholasticism
Bruno M. Shirley
Heidelberg University
This article provides a history of gendered ontology in later Theravāda commentaries and compendia. While the canonical Theravāda Abhidhamma sets out a model of gender based on binary dharmas—distinct indriyas (“faculties”) of femininity and masculinity—this seems to have been poorly received by later commentators, who repeatedly reconceptualized the dharmic foundations of gender. I suggest that this is due to the inadequacy of binary and essentialized models to account for the wide diversity of gender experiences depicted in the canonical Vinaya, with implications for contemporary arguments for gender essentialism.