gender binary

[jen-der bahy-nuh-ree, ‐ner-ee]

noun

1. a classification system consisting of two genders, male and female.

2. a concept or belief that there are only two genders and that one's sex or gender assigned at birth will align with traditional social constructs of masculine and feminine identity, expression, and sexuality. ​

Word History and Origins

Origin of gender binary¹

First recorded in 1980–90

Example Sentences

“It’s something that’s been literally stamped out over the course of the Western gender binary that emerged from the Victorian era.”

From Los Angeles Times

It’s quite a stretch to describe a candidate as relentlessly upbeat as Mamdani, who has virtually never been photographed without a smile on his face, as the de facto leader of a hate movement that wants to lower living standards, destroy the “gender binary that has structured social relations between the sexes for the whole of Western civilization” and sow “anarchy in middle-class white neighborhoods.”

From Salon

Worse, he projects his fears of emasculation outward, lashing out regularly at trans people, who destabilize the gender binary he’s so invested in, and women, mocking the very notion that they are the equal of men.

From Salon

Still, throughout the entire process, Arango was clear that, first and foremost, “Ponyboi” was a story centering intersex people — and all those who don’t fit into the rigid gender binary.

From Los Angeles Times

As the Trump era dawned, Daum found herself increasingly frustrated by fourth-wave feminism, which she described in 2019 as “the hashtag, the eye-rolling GIF, and, more seriously, the beginnings of questioning the whole idea of a gender binary.”

From Los Angeles Times