Gender Binary

To "fuck with" gender, one must have an expectation to be able to rebel against. These expectations are socially constructed and can vary widely between cultures. The Gender binary is the idea that only two genders exist: men and women. In many cultures it is only acceptable for an individual to embody only one of these gender roles. Gender roles often mimic the social expectations of the sexual categories of "male" and "female". Within this cultural expectation, people designated as male are expected to be masculine, while those designated female are expected to be feminine.[1] The belief in and subscription to polar gender roles is known as binarism.

In many cultures, for a person to be seen as belonging in a particular gender category the individual must not only have a particular genital and chromosomal makeup, but must conform to that culture's ideas of appropriate sex-role stereotypes. These roles are highly influenced by culture and peers[2]. This sex-role stereotype includes sexual orientation. To this end, those who go against expected conduct, for example gay and lesbian people, may be seen as "less than" or "other".[5]

However, other cultures - often Indigenous Peoples, or subcultures that exist within Western cultures - may conceptualize gender as having more than two options, and even see their people as potentially fulfilling more than one gender role. Some Indigenous peoples of North America have historically had more than two gender roles as part of their social structure,[8] while others, who may or may not have embraced this diversity historically, may accept modern Two Spirit people as part of their communities now.[9]

Other cultures may see people as being capable of embodying more than one gender role at different times,[8] or of being "in the middle", "embracing both male and female spirit."[10] People of the Bugis society of Indonesia have a total of five genders. These genders include what would traditionally be seen as cisgender man and woman, as well as transgender men and women, and the androgynous Bissu[3].

  1. ^ Butler, Judith (2006). Gender Trouble: Tenth Anniversary Edition. New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 10–11. ISBN 0415389550.
  2. ^ Adler, Patricia A.; Kless, Steven J.; Adler, Peter (1992-01-01). "Socialization to Gender Roles: Popularity among Elementary School Boys and Girls". Sociology of Education. 65 (3): 169–187. doi:10.2307/2112807.
  3. ^ Graham, Sharyn (2004). "It's Like One of Those Puzzles: Conceptualising Gender among Bugis". Journal of Gender Studies. 13: 107–116 – via EBSCOhost.

peer review

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Hey, Kai

I really like what you've written so far about the gender binary. Framing the binary as something to subvert through gender bending is fits well into our article. I would recommend a little more specificity--for example "many cultures" could be changed to "cultures of Western civilization" (if you can find a source that supports it). Words like "often" are also very general and I think it would be good to just take those out. Expanding on the definitions of what femininity and masculinity require and how disparate those two qualities are will add to the specificity of the article as well. Lastly, I just want to point out that there are a lot of claims in here that are not cited. Every phrase should have a citation. I would look back at what is already in the published article and see what you can find sources to support and then take out the rest. Great spelling! Jokretzmer (talk) 14:58, 14 November 2016 (UTC)