Andrea Gibson Gender Binary Analysis

“Woman is not just an other in the sense of something beyond his ken, but an other intimately related to him as the image of what he is not, and therefore as an essential reminder of what he is” (Eagleton). In a country that prides itself on ‘abstinence-only’ education and a history of sweeping everything outside of the social norm under the rug, there are bound to be some issues. Though America is one of the most progressive nations across the globe, this social consciousness derives primarily from the voices of the individuals representing the groups that feel as though their equality has been compromised. With things like the racial divide, class struggles, and lgbt* discrimination, the voices of social change have managed to gain enough …show more content…
Andrea Gibson, as the voice of non-binary youth expressed the struggles faced by young women that feel as though they don’t have the ability to exist within either side of the gender binary, and the ways in which the stereotypical gender roles made them feel entirely out of place. Gibson states, “When I was a kid I would sometimes / Secretly call myself Andrew / Would tug at the crotch of my pants the way / Only pubescent boys do / Ran around pounding on my bare chest like Tarzan” (Andrew, line 1) Gibson takes an outside look at the gender binary, and the ways in which these imposed gender stereotypes force young non-binary children to pick a side, either ultra-masculine or ultra-feminine, causing the children to age with the idea that there is no such thing as in-between. Imposing the gender binary on youth has resulted in some really interesting divisions in strange places. If an outside look at mass marketing is ever taken, it is quickly understood that humanity has assigned gender to some of the strangest objects. Cecilia Ridgeway explains her take on gender stereotypes by stating, “Gender stereotypes are variously measured by asking people to generate a list of traits that best describe men and women…Men are rated more highly than women on agentic qualities such as instrumental competence, …show more content…
“It’s not that I thought I’d grow up to be a man / I just never thought I’d grow up to be a woman either / From what I could tell neither of those categories / Seemed to fit me / But believe me, I knew from a very young age never to say / Hey dad, this Adam and Eve thing isn’t really working for me / I mean, what about all the people in between” (Andrew, line 6). One of the most piercing lines from Gibson’s poetry illustrates the isolation and fear felt as nonconforming youth are forced to face while making the decision to either express their feelings of confusion or keep them inside. Individuals that are aware of the gender binary, and that there is a possibility of existing outside of it are often forced to ‘pass’ as their biological gender regardless of how they feel inside, knowing that the social isolation and the discrimination they face will be far worse than anything they could receive from staying closeted. In an analysis of a 2008 study about nonbinary discrimination, Jack Harrison, Jaime Grant, and Jody L. Herman concluded that, “Over a six-month period, 6,450 transgender and gender nonconforming people answered a seventy-question survey reporting on their experiences of discrimination and abuse at home, in school, in the public sphere and in the workplace…These and other experiences impacted study participants gravely, as 41 percent