Constricting Binaries

Sociologists tend to classify sex, gender, and sexuality as different binaries. There is either male or female, women or men, and gay or straight. There is only two parts of each category, in which “heterosexuality is the uninterrogated norm.” (1)

These categories are undisputed and they are hard to break. It is very difficult for society to go beyond the heterosexuality norm. Anything that does not fall under the norm is abnormal. These norms are enforced by the structure of society.

As a result, the norms create this unbalance of power. (1) People who follow the norms have more power over people who cannot fall into the acceptable categories. (1) This power is said to be the power as an “external force” that limits the life chances of some groups and helps others. (1)

Because it is difficult to break the norms, young people in America who are just trying to make sense of their own identities have difficulty in establishing a stable identity. They have “a desire to be ordinary” and to fit into the norm because of the need to make an identity for themselves. (3)

For instance, gay and lesbian people have to deal with homophobia. They have to deal with “everyday heterosexist assumptions made by people to more pernicious forms of homophobic discrimination.” (3)

Changing Binaries

However, these binaries should be deconstructed in a sense that they cannot be the only categories that represent gender and sexual identities. (1) They are not perfect, and these genders are not on a scale either. They can vary from bisexuality to transgender.

Everything is connected and the categories do not necessarily reflect the variation between the identities. For example, intersexuality cannot fit into the two categories of heterosexuality and homosexuality. It is its own separate label. (1)

By getting rid of these labels, there is the idea of being able to choose. This could change the idea of power to referring to power of the self. Individuals get to regulate society and make small changes to norms, and choose whether those norms stay or not. (1)