gender binary

Examples of gender binary in the following topics:

• Gender Identity in Everyday Life

  • Gender identity typically falls on a gender binary—individuals are expected to exclusively identify either as male or female.
  • However, some individuals believe that this binary model is illegitimate and identify as a third, or mixed, gender.
  • Gender identities, and the malleability of the gender binary, vary across cultures.
  • The hijra form a third gender, although they do not enjoy the same acceptance and respect as individuals who identify along the gender binary.
  • The xanith form an accepted third gender in Oman, a society that also holds a gender binary as a social norm.

• Gender as a Spectrum and Transgender Identities

  • Most Western societies operate on the idea that gender is a binary—that there are essentially only two genders (men and women) based on two sexes (male and female), and that everyone must fit one or the other.
  • This social dichotomy enforces conformance to the ideals of masculinity and femininity in all aspects of gender and sex—gender identity, gender expression, and biological sex.
  • In the United States, the gender spectrum was formed as an extension of the limiting gender binary that viewed man and woman as the only two gender options.
  • The gender continuum (sometimes referred to as the gender matrix) is an extension of this gender spectrum that includes additional gender identities.
  • "Genderqueer" and "gender fluid" typically signify gender experiences that do not fit into binary concepts; they suggest nonconformity and challenge existing constructions and identities.

• Gender Socialization

  • Gender is included in this process; individuals are taught how to socially behave in accordance with their assigned gender, which is assigned at birth based on their biological sex (for instance, male babies are given the gender of "boy", while female babies are given the gender of "girl").
  • Gender stereotypes can be a result of gender socialization.
  • In Western contexts, gender socialization operates as a binary, or a concept that is exclusively comprised of two parts.
  • However, some individuals do not feel that they fall into the gender binary and they choose to question or challenge the male-masculine / female-feminine binary.
  • Gender fluidity also shows how gender norms are learned and either accepted or rejected by the socialized individual.

• Development of Gender Identity

  • Gender identity is a person's subjective experience of their own gender; how it develops is a topic of much debate.
  • Gender identity is the extent to which one identifies with a particular gender; it is a person's individual sense and subjective experience of being a man, a woman, or another gender.
  • Recent terms such as "genderqueer," "genderfluid," "gender variant," "androgynous," "agender," and "gender nonconforming" are used by individuals who do not identify within the gender binary as either a man or a woman; instead they identify as existing somewhere along a spectrum or continuum of genders, or outside of the spectrum altogether, often in a way that is continuously evolving.
  • However, many transgender, genderqueer, or genderfluid individuals are not able to embrace their true gender identity until much later in life, largely due to both societal pressure to conform to the gender binary and the societal stigma associated with transgender identities.
  • Apply social-learning theory and gender-schema theory to the context of gender identity development and the gender spectrum

• Gender

  • Societies tend to have binary gender systems in which everyone is categorized as male or female, but this is not universal.
  • Genderism is the cultural belief that gender is binary, or that there are, or should be, only two genders—male and female—and that the aspects of one's gender are inherently linked to the sex in which they were assigned at birth.
  • Gender neutral language and gender inclusive language aims to eliminate (or neutralize) reference to gender in terms that describe people.
  • Gender-neutral language should not be confused with genderless language, which refers to languages without grammatical gender.
  • It has become common in academic and governmental settings to rely on gender neutral language to convey inclusion of all sexes or genders (gender inclusive language).

• Gender Dysphoria

  • Gender dysphoria is a controversial diagnosis characterized by a person's discontent with the sex and gender they were assigned at birth.
  • Many people who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria identify as transgender, genderfluid, or otherwise gender non-conforming in some way; however not everyone who identifies as transgender or gender non-conforming experiences gender dysphoria.
  • Many transgender people and researchers supported the declassification of GID, arguing that the diagnosis pathologizes a natural form of gender variance, reinforces the binary model of gender (i.e., the idea that there are only two genders and that everyone must fit neatly into one of these two genders), and can result in stigmatization of transgender individuals.
  • Gender dysphoria exists when a person suffers discontent due to gender identity, causing them emotional distress.
  • Some authors have suggested that people with gender dysphoria suffer because they are stigmatized and victimized by society; if the society was more accepting of transgender identities and non-binary expressions of gender, they would suffer less and/or may not experience dysphoria at all.

• Defining Sex, Gender, and Sexuality

  • But have you ever been asked to provide your sex and your gender?
  • Biological sex has traditionally been conceptualized as a binary in Western medicine, typically divided into male and female.
  • Because our society operates in a binary system when it comes to gender (in other words, seeing gender as only having two options), many children who are born intersex are forcibly assigned as either a boy or a girl and even surgically "corrected" to fit a particular gender.
  • Gender identity is a person's sense of self as a member of a particular gender.
  • Modern scholars such as Anne Fausto-Sterling and Bonnie Spanier criticize the standard binaries of sex and gender, arguing that sex and gender are both fluid concepts that exist along a spectrum, rather than as binaries.

• The Social Construction of Gender

  • Social constructivists propose that there is no inherent truth to gender; it is constructed by social expectations and gender performance.
  • This is especially true with regards to categories of male and female, which are viewed typically as binary and opposite.
  • Social constructionism seeks to blur the binary and muddle these two categories, which are so frequently presumed to be essential.
  • The repetitious performances of "male" and "female" in accordance with social norms reifies the categories, creating the appearance of a naturalized and essential binary.
  • Gender is maintained as a category through socially constructed displays of gender.

• Sexual Orientation

  • A person's sexual orientation is their emotional and sexual attraction to a particular sex or gender.
  • "Bisexuality" was a term traditionally used to refer to attraction to individuals of either male or female sex, but it has recently been used in a less binary model of sex and gender (i.e., a model that does not assume there are only two sexes or two genders) to refer to attraction to any sex or gender.
  • Alternative terms such as "pansexuality" and "polysexuality" have also been developed, referring to attraction to all sexes/genders and attraction to multiple sexes/genders, respectively.
  • "Asexuality" refers to having no sexual attraction to any sex/gender.
  • In recent decades the term "queer" has been embraced as a non-binary view of gender and sexuality, embracing a spectrum and/or a fluidity of concepts that have previously been defined as having only two (binary) options (e.g., male/female, straight/gay, woman/man).

• Sexual Orientation

  • In recent decades, the term queer has been embraced as a non-binary view of gender and sexuality, embracing a spectrum and/or a fluidity of these concepts that have previously been defined as having only two (binary) options (ex: male/female, straight/gay, women/men).
  • Homosexual women (also referred to as lesbians), homosexual men (also referred to as gays), and bisexuals or queer people of all genders, may have very different experiences of discovering and accepting their sexual orientation.