When it comes to gender binary, we are referring to classification using two specific groups, male and female. This idea does not account for all of the other forms of gender expression that exist in society today. There are many people that believe our identities can be sorted into these two categories and consider this to be “normal,” but in reality this is very problematic. By insisting on this gender binary we would be surrounded by ideas of the past that people see to be true, which in turn reproduce stereotypes involving the past traditional ideas of the men and women, along with the exclusion of other forms of gender expression.

In the context of colonialism, we see this hypermasculinity in which the men are portrayed as being the strong warriors and the women are seen as simply the ones who performed the easy tasks of the home because they are weak. There is this imbalance of power where the women and other groups of individuals are oppressed while the men are encouraged to have this aggressive behaviour to show their strength. The men have always been seen as the dominant leaders who hold the most power and now they suppress those who do not act in such a way. With this idea comes the women who have been seen as inferior to the men, leading to adverse effects such as feeling insecure. We must step away from these ideas that are considered “proper” in order to prevent the continuation of this gender binary. 

This topic has an interesting position in my life being that I am a cisgender female, but often find myself interested in activities considered to be directed towards males such as fishing, hunting, quadding, or certain sports. I shouldn’t be expected to step away from activities like this that I enjoy just because it is not considered “normal” by certain people, and neither should anyone else. We are put into these positions where it makes it hard for us to be ourselves because of what society says. These are the stereotypes that show why we must disrupt this binary that has been put into place in order to account for all gender experiences. It is important to disrupt this because it would allow myself and others to be proud of who they are or finally feel confident with who they want to be.

References:

Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. (2017). Understanding the Invisibility of Oppression Through Sexism. In J. A. Banks (Eds.), Is Everyone Really Equal? Second Edition: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (pp. 102-118). Teachers College Press.