BINARY GENDER

A binary conception of gender declares an either/or. In nature, things are generally more complex. Humans contain multitudes. Gender appears to be all-encompassing. As with humanity as a whole, it is difficult to see where the edges are. Always present, its hyperobjecthood bolsters the fantasy gender is permanent and factual. 1 When the rigid structure of the binary is not questioned, those who are unable or unwilling to present themselves within its parameters become othered. 

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In Glitch Feminism, Russel frames the glitch as a tool to disrupt social norms. “A glitch is an error, a mistake, a failure to function. Within technoculture, a glitch is part of machine anxiety, an indicator of something having gone wrong.” 2 Those who exist outside of binary gender function as glitches in the system. By being visible in their “failure to function” as expected, they bring the validity of the binary system into question. It becomes a radical act to decline identification with the either/or.