The gender binary also exists in how certain doctors and bodily capabilities are named. The gender binary also rears its dirty head anytime someone assumes someone’s (gender) pronouns based on how they look, anytime groups of people are addressed by monikers like “ladies and gentlemen,” and anytime groups are divided based on whether they’re women or men, she says. Sadly, there are so many examples to point to.īathrooms, locker rooms, team sports, some nouns, honorific titles, and occupational titles all point to the false belief that gender is binary, says Minor. What are some everyday examples of the gender binary? “Many scholars argue that Western colonizers imposed binary ideas of gender on indigenous people.” “Many indigenous cultures around the world have tended to have more dynamic and fluid and flexible notions of gender - at least until they were until they were confronted with Western notions and theories of gender,” says Goldberg. “But the two-sex model created new problems, such as the devaluing of female sexuality and the erasure of anyone outside the gender binary,” they say. Mainly, women were often viewed as incomplete men.

Indeed, the one-sex model had its own problems. “Up until that point, popular thinkers thought more along the lines of a one-sex model, where male and female bodies were homologous,” explains Weiss.Ĭase and point: female genitalia were viewed as male genitalia turned inward, and female orgasm was deemed necessary for reproduction since male orgasm was. This model treated male and female bodies as opposites, and as the only two options. “That’s when scientists and physicians adopted what historians call a ‘two-sex model’ when describing people’s bodies.” “Arguably, modern notions of the gender binary originated during the Enlightenment,” they say. It’s almost everywhere - especially in the United States and other Western cultures, explains Abbie Goldberg, professor of psychology and director of the women and gender studies program at Clark University.īut where did the concept originate? It’s a good question.Īccording to gender and sexuality educator Suzannah Weiss, different iterations of these ideas have existed for a longgg time. These days, talk of the gender binary has infiltrated nearly every cultural or social sphere. Where did the idea of a gender binary originate? When someone’s assigned sex and gender aren’t aligned, it’s known as being transgender.

When someone’s assigned sex and gender are aligned, it’s known as being cisgender. It encompasses a myriad of things that make up a person’s identity, including their behaviors, mannerisms, personality traits, thoughts, dreams, and more.

Think: “It’s a boy!” and “It’s a girl!” This gets marked down on someone’s birth certificate as “M” or “F.” Sex is a label that you’re assigned at birth based on the genitals you’re born with. “It’s the idea that men are masculine and women are feminine,” says Ferraiolo.įurther, the gender binary perpetuates the idea that gender is synonymous with sex - it’s not! It’s also the idea that there’s a ‘right’ way to be a woman and a ‘right’ way to be a man. “Gender binary refers to the societal or cultural belief that there are only two categories of gender: men and women,” says Tony Ferraiolo, director of the youth and families program at Health Care Advocates International, a public health and advocacy organization serving the LGBTQ+ community.

Physical notion synonym