answering the question

Dichotomies major theme in WGSS

Male / Female

White / Non-white

Wealthy / Poor

Heterosexual / Homosexual

Cis-gender / Transgender

Western / Non-Western

Citizen / Alien

Mind / Body

True / False

Normal / Abnormal

High Status / Low Status

Either / Or

• Firm, rigid, exclusive boundaries

• Based on biology – seems innate, unabridgeable, universal, fixed, stable, permanent, “natural”

• Polarized groups, opposition

• Socially imposed – no choice, no control, perceived by others

• Hierarchical, unequal

dominant vs subordinate

• Two groups sum up the range of possibilities

• Change possible only if subordinate becomes more like dominant

Dichotomies major theme in WGSS

Either / Or

• Seems logically neat, simple

• Reduces richness, complexity

• Puts an embargo on

both/sometimes-the-one,

sometimes-the other options

• Does not recognize plurality and

heterogeneity

• Influences social practices

• Not innocent, neutral, benign

• Maintains inequalities of power

• Institutionalized via policies and

public actions

Male / Female

White / Non-white

Wealthy / Poor

Heterosexual / Homosexual

Cis-gender / Transgender

Western / Non-Western

Citizen / Alien

Mind / Body

True / False

Normal / Abnormal

High Status / Low Status

Dichotomies major theme in WGSS

Alternatives: Seeing Social Constructs

• Develop new tools, non-dichotomous ways of thinking

• Think relationally

• Refuse to live within the categories

• Challenge harmful constructions

• Examine how and how well boundaries were built, as well as to what consequences

• Include experiences of people from different groups

Male / Female

White / Non-white

Wealthy / Poor

Heterosexual / Homosexual

Cis-gender / Transgender

Western / Non-Western

Citizen / Alien

Mind / Body

True / False

Normal / Abnormal

High Status / Low Status

Dichotomies major theme in WGSS

Alternatives: Seeing Social Constructs

• Non-hierarchical

• Multiple affiliations, fluid

• Voluntary, a choice – you learn and adopt

• Not as closely linked with power differences

• Divisions are not a biological fact but a result of human interaction

– Varied through time and space

– Not universal

– Understood differently

Male / Female

White / Non-white

Wealthy / Poor

Heterosexual / Homosexual

Cis-gender / Transgender

Western / Non-Western

Citizen / Alien

Mind / Body

True / False

Normal / Abnormal

High Status / Low Status

GENDER RACE SEXUALITY

• Compulsory patriarchy, familial unity, property value

• Heterosexualism, fidelity, homophobia

• Biological dimorphism is normal

• Gender domination, women relegated to private life / home

• Women as “weak”, asexual, passive

• Gynecracy (potency in female, egalitarian), collective unity

• “Unsexed humanity,” positive towards homosexuals

• Not necessarily dimorphic, diversity is normal

• Gender fluidity, communal relations, collective decision making and economies

• Women not fragile, powerless or weak

VIOLENCE OF COLONIALISM erased alternatives

“Traditional” Family Model