Gender binary: Difference between revisions

The '''gender binary''' is a model of gender that classifies all people into one of two genders. Under the binary model, gender is seen as a rigid binary option, like one or zero. The gender binary says there can be no more than two genders, with no "shades of grey" between the two. A person can only be one or other option, not even [[Bigender|both]], [[Aporagender|something outside the two]], something between the two, or [[Agender|nothing]]. The gender binary, as described, is largely a part of Western culture and thought. Many [[ethnicity and culture|cultures]] give recognition to a slightly or significantly different system of genders. They can have [[gender-variant identities worldwide|more (nonbinary) gender roles]], and flexibility for individuals who don't fit into one role. Western colonialism puts pressure on other cultures to conform to its own form of the gender binary. This form of [[ethnicity and culture#Racism and cultural discrimination|racist]] and [[sexism|sexist]] discrimination is called [[binarism]]. There are individuals whose gender identity doesn't fit within this gender binary, who don't fit strictly into the "female" box or the "male" box. They are [[nonbinary]]. The gender binary makes problems for nonbinary people in the forms of oppression and discrimination such as [[Nonbinary erasure|non binary erasure]].