14 Gender Polarity in the Modern Binary – Megan Rockwell

Gender Polarity in the Modern Binary

The social construction of gender polarity creates an institution of societal norms. It is structured upon the modern binary system of masculine and feminine. Gender is separate from the biological sex of male and female, but societal structures connect them, and they are often conflated as one. Societal mores related to gender are based on the hierarchal system of patriarchy that produces a polarized bias of masculinity as the dominant gender to the subordinate feminine. The polarity of masculinity and femininity is reflected in the structure of power, production, and sexual relationships. A binary structure suggests relationships of male and female, masculinity and femininity, that contain negative and positive characteristics. This binary is echoed in the language of society. The social construction of language has created a bias towards the masculine. Polarity in its very nature creates opposition of affirming and negating features. Femininity does not benefit from the polarity of gender because it is in opposition, or negative, to the masculine bias. The non-binary is a rejection of societal norms that have systemically categorized groups into a binary system.

Gender refers specifically to the social and cultural patterns we associate with being male or female (Anderson 2020:14). The social construct of gender is linked to sex characteristics, as society connects the two as one. Gender is presented through a display of masculine or feminine characteristics that coincide with being male and female. Society has long been fixated on a binary structure to describe males and females through the masculine and feminine that reflects society’s default to heterosexual relationships. The polarity of gender creates a fundamentally oppositional approach to descriptions, connotations, and understanding of binary gender characteristics. The masculine is held in the positive dominant position while the feminine is reduced to the subordinate negative position. To be masculine is to be strong, independent, competitive, and confident, whereas the feminine is meant to be meek, dependent, accommodating, and timid. According to societal gender roles, to be feminine is to be driven by feelings and emotions countered by the masculine which is driven by logic and reason. As such, it is biased towards the masculine in our social structures and institutions. Women are consistently pushed to achieve masculine traits but only to be punished with negative stereotypes when they embody these characteristics because in the binary system one cannot be both emotional and logical.

Societal and cultural norms have built a structure of binary genders among power, production, and sexual relations. The dominant gender in society, as seen through hegemonic masculinity, has subordinated others through complicit marginalization. Hegemonic masculinity legitimizes male dominance in society in a hierarchal gender structure. It justifies subordination of the feminine and includes discrimination of subordinate groups based on gender, race, and class. Characteristics of hegemonic masculinity include competitiveness, aggression, independence, leadership, and domination. Power is given to the masculine male to dominate over the feminine male or female through the patriarchal system. This system is built from an institutionalized Eurocentric gender structure. It was the masculinity of nobles and gentry that ruled over the inferior classes, races, and genders. The overwhelming majority of top office-holders are men because there is a gender configuring of recruitment and promotion, a gender configuring of the internal division of labor and systems of control, a gender configuring of policymaking, practical routines, and ways of mobilizing pleasure and consent (Connell 2005:73). The system has kept power in the hands of men to create laws, systems, and cultural norms that benefit men and force women to inhabit a lower status. It is men that have enforced the binary system through positions of authority. It is the prevailing hegemonic masculinity that struggles to continue the binary while other forms of masculinity and feminine shift towards plurality in modern society.

The polarity of gender structures the division of labor into masculine and feminine. Masculinity has been defined in different ways as the means for production has changed. Masculinity during industrialization was defined by a man’s effectiveness in manufacturing or wage work, whereas the gentry were held to a different standard of masculinity tied to wealth. Women held a supporting role at the pleasure of men. During modernization, as technology advanced, the means of production changed, and women entered the labor force. This change shifted the gendered structure of labor by no longer denying women access to male-only occupations. The strength of masculinity still dominates the way business is conducted today because femininity is seen as a weakness to exploit. Masculine gender characteristics are not solely embodied by men. Women who have obtained positions of power are swayed to express masculine gender roles, such as competitiveness, stubbornness, and exuding confidence. Though at the same time when a woman is assertive, she is criticized for not being more feminine. It is a no-win situation for women because there are negative reactions to both gender roles embodied by a woman. Hilary Clinton received much backlash when she ran for President in 2016 from both men and women. She was not emotional enough at the right times, yet it was also feared she would be driven by emotions when important decisions were being made. The gendered polarity of labor has divided the workforce to the detriment of women. Given the right skills, education, and training, women perform, and many times outperform, their male counterparts at the same tasks and jobs.

The polarity of gender in sexual relationships is based on heteronormative values in our society. The emotional attachment and sexual desire of cathexis, unhealthy concentration of mental energy, is exhibited in a binary system connected to the sexuality of gender, as well as race and class. The cultural norms of society integrate compulsory heterosexuality regarding sexual attraction in the early stages of childhood. The heteronormative characteristics of masculinity and femininity are attributed to the duality of relationships. The dynamics of relationships, structured around gender norms, are built on dominant and submissive roles. In heterosexual relationships, this is typically displayed as the dominant male and submissive female. In homosexual relationships, society pushes to enforce gender norms in an effort to classify gender roles as a polarity. Lesbian relationships are routinely asked about who performs which gender role of the masculine and the feminine. In many modern lesbian relationships, the dominant and subordinate ideologies do not exist, as the binary is dismissed for equality. In society today, relationships outside of heteronormative characteristics involve individuals performing gender roles that can be binary or non-binary. Race and class are also affected by the polarity of gender in the patriarchal system. White men who hold a dominant status are in opposition to men of color regardless of their class status. White men with higher status are held at a higher standard unattainable for other men to achieve, much less women. Men of color have been stigmatized as individuals to be feared, lacking ambition, aggressive, and a myriad of other negative characteristics. White men on the other hand have been glorified as saviors, motivated, and competitive among other positive dominant characteristics. This polarity created and continues the white male dominated masculinity displayed in society today.

Language impacts gender polarity because of its androcentrism. The notion of man has been fused with humanity, creating a gender bias. A male bias has the implicit assumption that any person that is indeterminate is a man either through words or nuances of explicit grammar referencing a man or the masculinity. This representation has the tendency to treat men and the masculine as the norm. Masculine language has political implications that benefit the male hegemony and disenfranchise the feminine. The gendered language of occupation creates a social construct of control. Masculine language is used to describe occupations that have divided the labor force by gender. Men have titles such as chairman, clergyman, businessman, or to a lesser extent handyman or salesman. The feminine is included as a qualifier that is diminutive, such as headmistress or suffragette, or a position subordinate to the dominant for example, nurse or secretary. Language is how society communicates but it also has cultural implications. Society has worked toward equality by neutralizing gendered occupational titles, for example replacing man with person, businessman changes to businessperson. However, this is still biased in the masculine with the root word ‘son.’ To truly neutralize gender, different words need to be the standard, such as anchor, artisan, or pastor. This deconstructs the polarity of gendered occupation to create equitability between men and women.  Outside of occupation titles, the singular use of they is more commonly used to imply humanity as a way to undo the bias toward the masculine.

The social construction of gendered polarity has historically benefited men. Femininity is assumed to be a weakness and that idea is used to negatively ascribe characteristics to both men and women. Deconstructing the polarities and their associated hierarchies would deny men their dominance over women and the associated valorization of masculinity above femininity (Knights 2004:432). Hegemonic masculinity has created structured hierarchies of norms that are ascribed along lines of race and class. At the top is white middle to upper class men with higher status, at the polar end, are feminine presenting males and women. This creates a binary system of masculine and feminine but does not include individuals that are intersex, gender fluid or non-binary. “Over the last thirty years, the dynamic fields of queer theory gender studies have exposed the poverty of gender as a binary device to analyze non-heterosexual experience and also pioneered theoretical approaches to gendered identities that do not fit the binary matrix and that exist outside the normative heterosexual paradigm” (Krylova 2016:307). Society is progressing outside the gendered binary to break down established norms through academic study and the work of the LGBTQ+ community. Education is a vital tool to further break down the polarity of gender.

In conclusion, gender polarity is a social construct of the binary masculine and the feminine. Masculinity is characterized as the dominant positive while femininity is the submissive negative. The binary system creates polar opposites, one in contradiction to the other. The concept of the binary gender structure creates social order in communities. The gender polarity is maintained because most children are raised to conform to heterosexual gender norms. Individuals are categorized with labels attributed to masculine and feminine characteristics. In the binary, when a woman is not feminine, she is masculine, and the same binary opposite is true for a man. This results in negativity and being ostracized for some until one conforms to the binary social norm or finds acceptance through like-minded communities.  The LGBTQ+ community deconstructs the binary for the plurality of gender, creating a safe space for individuals to explore their gender. The gender polarity is structured in the hierarchies of hegemonic masculinity in the patriarchal system built by men to their advantage. This affects race and class in the struggle for equality. The polarity of gender is part of the political organization that divides labor. The division benefits men while it oppresses women into a subordinate role. The binary system of cathexis is based on heteronormative values that perpetuate the societal norm ascribed to relationships. Language builds communication and understanding for any community to create a society. The social construction of language creates a structure toward the male bias. A male bias creates a patriarchal system perpetuating positive stereotypes for the masculine while instilling negative connotations for the feminine. In the end, men benefit from the hegemonic masculinity through the continued polarity of gender.

Bibliography

Anderson, Margaret L. 2020. Thinking about Women. Hoboken, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Connell, R.W. 2005. Masculinities. 2nd edition. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press

Knights, David and Deborah Kerfoot. 2004. “Between Representations and Subjectivity: Gender Binaries and the Politics of Organizational Transformation.” Gender, Work and Organization 11(4):430–54. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0432.2004.00241.x.

Krylova, Anna. 2016. “Gender Binary and the Limits of Poststructuralist Method.” Gender and History 28(2):307–23. doi:10.1111/1468-0424.12209.