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. 2021 Nov;16(6):1113-1142.
doi: 10.1177/1745691620902442. Epub 2020 May 6.

The Effects of Gender Trouble: An Integrative Theoretical Framework of the Perpetuation and Disruption of the Gender/Sex Binary

Thekla Morgenroth  1 , Michelle K Ryan  1   2
Affiliations

The Effects of Gender Trouble: An Integrative Theoretical Framework of the Perpetuation and Disruption of the Gender/Sex Binary

Thekla Morgenroth et al. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

In the Western world, gender has traditionally been viewed as binary and as following directly from biological sex. This view is slowly changing among both experts and the general public, a change that has been met with strong opposition. In this article, we explore the psychological processes underlying these dynamics. Drawing on previous work on gender performativity as well as gender as a performance, we develop a psychological framework of the perpetuation and disruption of the gender/sex binary on a stage that facilitates and foregrounds binary gender/sex performance. Whenever character, costume, and script are not aligned the gender/sex binary is disrupted and gender trouble ensues. We integrate various strands of the psychological literature into this framework and explain the processes underlying these reactions. We propose that gender trouble can elicit threat-personal threat, group-based and identity threat, and system threat-which in turn leads to efforts to alleviate this threat through the reinforcement of the gender/sex binary. Our framework challenges the way psychologists have traditionally treated gender/sex in theory and empirical work and proposes new avenues and implications for future research.

Keywords: feminism; gender binary; gender trouble; patriarchy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared that there were no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship or the publication of this article.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Elements of binary gender/sex performance.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
The self-reinforcing cycle of the gender/sex binary.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
The psychological effects of gender trouble.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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