Gender binary: Difference between revisions

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The '''gender binary''' (also known as '''gender binarism''')<ref name="Garber1997">{{cite book |author=Marjorie Garber |title=Vested Interests: Cross-dressing and Cultural Anxiety |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rCzYJisHWHAC |access-date=18 September 2012 |date=25 November 1997 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-91951-7 |pages=2, 10, 14–16, 47}}</ref><ref name="Card1994">{{cite book |author=Claudia Card |title=Adventures in Lesbian Philosophy |url=https://archive.org/details/adventuresinlesb00card |urltitle-accesslink=registrationAdventures |access-date=18in SeptemberLesbian 2012 |year=1994Philosophy |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-253-20899-6 |page=the [https://archive.org/details/adventuresinlesb00card/page/127 127]}}</ref><ref name="Rosenblum2000">{{cite journal |author=Rosenblum, Darren |year=2000 |title='Trapped' in Sing-Sing: Transgendered Prisoners Caught in the Gender Binarism |journal=Michigan Journal of Gender & Law |volume=6 |ssrn=897562}}</ref> is the classification of gender into two distinct forms of [[masculine]] and [[feminine]], whether by [[social system]], [[Culture|cultural]] [[belief]], or both simultaneously.{{efn-ua |In this context the word "binary" often functions as a [[noun]], unlike several [[Binary (disambiguation)|other uses of the word]], where it is an [[adjective]].}} Most cultures use a gender binary, having two genders ([[boys]]/[[men]] and [[girls]]/[[women]]).<ref name="Nadal-re-binary">Kevin L. Nadal, ''The SAGE Encyclopedia of Psychology and Gender'' (2017, {{ISBN|978-1-4833-8427-6}}), page 401: "Most cultures currently construct their societies based on the understanding of gender binary—the two gender categorizations (male and female). Such societies divide their population based on biological sex assigned to individuals at birth to begin the process of gender socialization."</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sigelman |first1=Carol K. |last2=Rider |first2=Elizabeth A. |title=Life-Span Human Development |date=14 March 2017 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1-337-51606-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2M1DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA385 |access-date=4 August 2021 |language=en |page=385}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Maddux |first1=James E. |last2=Winstead |first2=Barbara A. |title=Psychopathology: Foundations for a Contemporary Understanding |date=11 July 2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-64787-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-ChDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT1028 |access-date=4 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

In this binary model, ''[[gender]]'' and ''[[sexuality]]'' may be assumed by default to align with one's [[sex assigned at birth]]. This may include certain expectations of how one dresses themselves, one's behavior, [[sexual orientation]], names or pronouns, which restroom one uses, and other qualities. For example, when a male is born, gender binarism may assume that the male will be masculine in appearance, have masculine character traits and behaviors, as well as having a [[heterosexual]] attraction to females.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Keating |first1=Anne |title=glbtq >> literature >> Gender |url=http://www.glbtq.com/literature/gender.html |website=www.glbtq.com |publisher=glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture |access-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403155153/http://www.glbtq.com/literature/gender.html |archive-date=3 April 2015}}</ref> These expectations may reinforce negative [[Attitude (psychology)|attitudes]], [[bias]]es, and [[discrimination]] towards people who display [[Gender expression|expressions]] of [[Gender variance|gender variance or nonconformity]] or those whose [[gender identity]] is incongruent with their birth sex.<ref name="Hill-2015">{{Cite journal |last1=Hill |first1=Darryl B. |last2=Willoughby |first2=Brian L. B. |date=October 2015 |title=The Development and Validation of the Genderism and Transphobia Scale |journal=Sex Roles |volume=53 |issue=7–8 |pages=531–544 |doi=10.1007/s11199-005-7140-x |s2cid=143438444 |issn=0360-0025}}</ref> Discrimination against transgender or gender nonconforming people can take various forms, from physical or sexual assault, homicide, limited access to public spaces, in healthcare and more. The gender binary has been critiqued by scholars of [[intersectionality]], who say that it is a structure that maintains [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] and [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] norms as part of an interlocking hierarchical system of gender and race.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Scaptura|first1=Maria N.|first2=Brittany E.|last2=Hayes.|chapter=The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Extremist Violence.|title=The Routledge International Handbook on Femicide and Feminicide|date=2023|editor-first1=Myrna|editor-last1=Dawson|editor-first2=Saide Mobayed|editor-last2=Vega}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first1=Jean Ait|last1=Belkhir|first2=Bernice McNair|last2=Barnett|title=Race, Gender and Class Intersectionality|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41674988|journal=Race, Gender & Class|date=March 2017|issn=1082-8354|pages=157–174|volume=8|issue=3|jstor=41674988 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first1=Kimberlé|last1=Crenshaw|title=On Intersectionality: Essential Writings|url=https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/books/255|journal=Faculty Books|date=1 March 2017}}</ref>