The Danger of Dividing People By Racial Binaries

In America the allowance of the division of people into two categories is the entire philosophy behind racism. The popularity of the term “people of color” further develops another binary created by white men in power as a tool to retain their control. This terminology and historical behavior entrenches a bias within us that that there is white and colored and that white is inherently better. Throughout global history the idea that one race was superior made absolutely no sense, so people in power then created a false science, “eugenics” to prove that white was the superior race and all human experiences and opportunities should be comprised around this insignificant trait. Many claim that people should be valued and looked at beyond the label of their race. People are all different and individualistic so there is no need to group and divide people between colored and white like we have for far too long.

Obviously there is no such thing as race, and in many ways, sex is a continuum, not a binary. So it doesn’t make sense to label people in that way.
Gloria Steinem, an American feminist, journalist, and social political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader and a spokeswoman for the American feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970

Even Technology is Comprised of Binaries

In modern society nothing is a better indicator of how we think than technology because 56% of the world has access to the internet, and many spend the majority of their time awake on the internet. Technology has been created to mimic our actions and our world, and that is why computers work off a binary system as well. It’s often difficult to administer online surveys because certain aspects have to be required, including gender. In many surveys people who did not select male or female selected other and it left holes in the data and software that made it easy for the websites to be hacked. As artificial intelligence and other code based technology becomes more prevalent in our day to day lives, the binary system that we function within today has the potential to expand greatly to ultimately decrease human creativity and individuality.

“The human brain works as a binary computer and can only analyze the exact information-based zeros and ones (or black and white). Our heart is more like a chemical computer that uses fuzzy logic to analyze information that can’t be easily defined in zeros and ones.”
Naveen Jain, business executive, entrepreneur and the founder and former CEO of InfoSpace

The World’s Dystopian Depiction of Success

The binary way of thinking that the world has been taught has created the notion that there’s only one correct way to do things, and if not done correctly, then there’s no room for excuses. People who have mental health issues, any disability, or another reason for feeling out of the scope of “normal” or “correct” are analieated and othered. In a system that has been comprised based off of the concept that you aren’t unique or deserving of your own path because there is only two options, you either fit into the ideal society, or you don’t.

There’s extreme amount of stigma around transgender people because they are seen as others, but the world goes further to seperate people that cannot succeed based on the “necessary” qualifications given. People with mental health issues are constantly seen as failing. Can’t go to class because you’re so depressed that you can’t leave your bed? You fail. The majority of schools have attendance policies, there’s no room for exceptions in a binary pass/fail system. People who get addicted to drugs often have difficulty going to rehabilitation because they have been othered and there is extreme stigma around getting help, as if you’ve failed at life, failed at society.

Even people that don’t pick a “typical” or “correct” profession are seen as others, as if there’s a list of right and wrong careers. For example, there’s a reason its called the “starving artist,” because art isn’t seen as a proper career. If I told my parents tomorrow that I was dropping out of college to be an artist and was no longer going to go to law school I don’t think they’d speak to me. When my boyfriend chose not to go into the military directly after high school his family kicked him out and stopped speaking to him for years. There’s so much pressure on kids, and specifically on college students to be a certain version of successful that more than 80 percent of college students felt overwhelmed by all they had to do in the past year and 45 percent have felt things were hopeless. More than 40 percent of college students have felt more than an average amount of stress within the past 12 months and 75 percent of lifetime cases of mental health conditions begin by age 24. (Chadron State College)

The binary utopian desires that have categorized everything into right and wrong have changed our relationships, our holistic view of human beings, and shaped our depiction of right and wrong to mean something that is far from natural. The binary system has created a dystopia that harms people’s mental health, experience, and well being.

Conclusion: What Happens When We Break Free From Binaries?

In order to have a holistic society that all people can thrive in we as a human race must learn to abandon all preconceived notions of binaries. Many systems are currently trying to abandon binary ways of thinking, for example college application processes are changing and colleges are often abandoning qualitative ways of examining candidates. Essays are becoming more of the norm and committees are taking into account many more components than just grade point average or standardized test scores. These sorts of steps are important in evaluating people based off of their entire human experience rather than through a binary lens, or superficial/man made component.

Non binary gendering is becoming more widely accepted around the world and many communities are returning to their non-binary roots similarly to India and their tradition of non-binary Hijras. This is important in deconstructing sexism and transphobia in order to appreciate each human being holistically and give every individual more than two lenses to see and experience the world in. When the world becomes accustomed to viewing people beyond the sex they were born into, we as a world can move beyond gender roles and preconceived notions of what a person’s life should look like. As people become more accepting of paths unique to any given two paths people are given throughout their lives, humans can start living complexly, how they were supposed to. We can achieve a much happier and more fulfilling society.

Within the novel Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy, the author depicts a utopian future in which everyone is happy and has diverged from gender binaries, and over simplification of the human experience in general. In her depiction women no longer even have children and all people can live as humans rather than through the lens of their gender. There is no upper and middle class divides for people to experience the world through. Choice is evident everywhere, and people are not racist, or unhappy in dead end jobs, they’re truly free because they can act beyond two options.

“All coupling, all befriending goes on between biological males, biological females, or both. That’s not a useful set of categories. We need to divvy up people by what they’re good at and bad at, strengths and weaknesses, gifts and failings.”

“That’s all you can dream about! Our dignity comes from work. Everyone raises the kids, haven’t you noticed? Romance, sex, birth, children—that’s what you fasten on. Yet that isn’t women’s business anymore. It’s everybody’s.”

On the contrary, the author depicts a dystopian future that is an exaggerated version of how society’s utopian desires surrounding gender binaries, stereotypes, and roles play out today. The women in this future are all completely made up of plastic surgery and feminine qualities, because of nothing more than gender roles and standards. The people are unhappy and live the way that they are told to. Her book is a warning, we must look beyond gender binaries and binaries as a whole in order to truly reach our individual potential and avoid the expansion of constant division and control of our bodies and lives.

“… her body seemed a cartoon of femininity, with a tiny waist, enormous sharp breasts that stuck out like the brassieres Connie herself had worn in the fifties—but the woman was not wearing a brassier. Her stomach was flat but her hips and buttocks were oversized and audaciously curved. She looked as if she could hardly walk for the extravagance of her breasts and buttocks, her thighs that collided as she shuffled a few steps.”

“Men and women haven’t changed so much,” she said… She was surprised by how cheerless that prospect seemed.”

While society is making some progress, it is important to create a world that removes all of the utopian desires that have led to the inherent control of each individual’s human experience. When removing the binary system and way of thinking, each person is free to make their own choices and we create a society that is less judgmental and hate based. All people can be happier if they can truly choose their own careers and live life in the way that they are gravitated, rather than living a life based off of societal standards of what’s “right.” When people become more complex and less reliant on societal standards, creativity can skyrocket, people can get help when they are struggling, and success can be relative to each human’s experience. In addition to being good for each individual’s mental health and experience, it can lead to a greater appreciation for other’s as well when we become more holistic and less judgmental. A broader environment of others is beneficial to everything from love, intimacy, and friendship to professional relationships and even how we interact with strangers on a day to day basis. The day we abandon a world that relies on binaries we can all truly start living.