Epistemic Authority Over Lived Experience

Sor Juana argued that women's exclusion from education denied not just opportunity but epistemic justice—the right to speak authoritatively about their own experience. Applied to cisgender identity, this concept suggests that cisgender people's lived experience within gender categories grants them specific knowledge that deserves philosophical weight. Yet this same principle demands that cisgender individuals extend epistemic respect to those with different gender experiences. This creates productive tension: cisgender people have authority over their own experience while recognizing that gender itself might be understood differently by those outside the category. Sor Juana's framework prevents both dismissal of cisgender perspectives and uncritical acceptance of cisgender-as-default. It suggests that examining cisgender identity requires cisgender voices engaged in rigorous self-reflection, treating their knowledge as provisional and dialogical rather than universal.