binary

Examples of binary in the following topics:

• 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.
  • 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.
  • "Genderqueer" and "gender fluid" typically signify gender experiences that do not fit into binary concepts; they suggest nonconformity and challenge existing constructions and identities.

• Defining Sex, Gender, and Sexuality

  • 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.
  • 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.

• Sexual Orientation

  • "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.
  • 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).

• Classification and Categorization

  • Different objects can fit a cluster better than others; fuzzy-set theory is not binary, so it is not always clear whether an object belongs to a cluster or not.
  • Prototype theory is not binary; instead it uses graded membership.

• 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.
  • 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.

• Development of Gender Identity

  • 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.