Genderism

Genderism, or gender binarism, is the social system or cultural belief that gender is a binary, or that there are, or should be, only two genders — man and woman — and that the aspects of one's gender are inherently linked to the sex in which they were assigned at birth and is strictly decided by the biology of the individual. These aspects may include expectations of dressing, behavior, sexual orientation, names/pronouns, preferred restroom, or any other quality attributed to their birth gender's representation, feminine or masculine. These expectations may reinforce negative attitudes, bias, and discrimination towards people who display expressions of gender variance or nonconformity and/or whose gender identity is incongruent with their birth sex. In other words, discrimination is common among persons who do not identify as cisgender, or in congruence with sex assigned at birth. Genderism is of particular relevance to individuals who fall within the transgender spectrum, and is the overarching ideology responsible for transphobia and trans bashing. In addition, much like how transphobia is parallel to homophobia, genderism is said to be parallel to heterosexism, or the belief that heterosexuality is the superior or more desirable sexual orientation in comparison to homosexuality, bisexuality, asexuality, etc. Heteronormativity, the ideology that these two genders and heterosexual orientation are the social norm, also contributes to the rigid social constructs put in place for gender identity and sexuality. Gender binarism, like heterosexism, denies or ignores the existence of gender identities that do not fall in either of the two accepted categories: man and woman.