Gender binary

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. According to gender binary, person can only be one or the other, not both, something outside the two, something between the two, or nothing. The gender binary, as described, is largely a part of Western culture and thought. Many cultures give recognition to a slightly or significantly different system of genders. They can have 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 racist and 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 might identify as nonbinary. The gender binary makes problems for nonbinary people, oppressing and discriminating against them in ways such as nonbinary erasure.

Although the gender binary system is coercive and limiting, the binary genders themselves are valid identities.

Gender binarism has also been described by the term bigenderism, which should not be confused with the bigender identity.

History

Throughout world history, most cultures have used a model of gender roles that include female and male, with similar definitions to those familiar to Westerners, and many cultures recognize(d) additional genders. However, the gender binary, with its strict limitation to only two genders, is not a constant throughout all cultures in history. It is a relatively new concept that had its basis in the European Christian Church. Earlier Abrahamic religions and European cultures recognized additional genders and sexes. Western colonialism put pressure on cultures around the world to be like Western culture. One part of this was that Western colonialism made other cultures take up its model of the gender binary. Colonialists often had deadly penalties for people who didn't conform to it. This became a standard part of colonialist societies. This systematic form of oppression is called binarism.

Supporting Arguments and their Counter-Arguments

One of the main arguments for the gender binary is the fact that someone who fits inside the binary system can have a gender expression or personality which differs from the Western binary system. This argument is misinformed, since it is based on the single-cultural assumption that gender identity is the same thing as personality. For example, if two people identifying with the same binary gender who both lived in cultures with gender stereotypes completely alien from each other met, they would both still want to be known as their real gender identities, not something culturally assumed from behaviour and expression.

Binary genders

The binary genders are the two options for gender given in cultures (chiefly Western cultures) that use the gender binary system of putting all people into gender categories. The binary genders are female (woman, girl) and male (man, boy). For gender expression, the two options are feminine and masculine. Nonbinary genders are those that don't fit into the gender binary system, and don't entirely match one of the binary genders. That said, some nonbinary people identify with one or both of the binary genders, at least in part. Although the gender binary system is coercive and limiting, the binary genders themselves are valid identities. The existence of nonbinary genders doesn't make the binary genders less valid.

See also

• Binary genders
• Bigender
• Two-spirit
• LGBT
• Glossary of English gender and sex terminology

External links

• Wikipedia's Gender Binary article
• The Origin of Gender Origin of Everything on YouTube