In the assigned reading there were many interesting concepts discussed. One of them was the concept of binaries – “social constructs composed of two parts that are framed as absolute and unchanging opposites” (1). Binaries are rooted deep in the culture of the United States and show themselves in various spheres of one’s identity.
The binary gender perspective presents only two genders – men and women – ignoring all others who identify as neither. It uses a biological determinist view that pronounces that “biology is destiny” and the fact that someone has been born and assigned one sex at birth must mean that they are also of the same gender. But that view is incorrect – there are also transgender people and others, who identify as non-binary, gender fluid,
or genderqueer.
Another example is a binary perspective on race: in American society, it’s the opposition of Black and white. The differences supposedly are showing in biology, physical attributes, intelligence, strength, sexuality, “culture” and motivation level as well as skin color. Inherently coming from racist history, those ideas, unfortunately, still continue to exist. Even nowadays we are experiencing a phenomenon of a “one-drop rule”, where a person would be considered Black even if they had only one drop of African blood – where, if someone is mixed race with one parent being white and another one a minority, the child would be considered a minority as well.
While defining class and socioeconomic position, the binary is constructed between the middle-class and the poor and is largely politicized.
Middle-class people are viewed as responsible and moral, while poor people are defined as crazy, tax-evading, and irresponsible. There are also several stereotypes about the poor that carry racial and sexual context, that often do not fully reflect the reality of the situation.
In general, the binary model is unable to show the differences in human experience in all its variety. Identities are much more than just two sides of one coin. A lot of things – our race, gender, class, etc. will shape our experience. In order to truly understand and explore the world we live in and know the people we live around, we should look at them without prejudice and understand their complexity.
