Sexism is caused by the gender binary. In our strict two-gender system, when people go outside of their assigned roles, they’re often ridiculed, harassed, or bullied. When feminist theory combines with gender theory, we realize that the patriarchy’s oppression of women is dependent on the gender binary. Kate Bornstein is a nonbinary transgender activist who notes in her book Gender Outlaws: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us that “Gender could be seen as a class system...One side will always seek dominance over the other. The value of a two-gender system is nothing more than the value of keeping the power imbalance, and it all depends on that, intact” (Bornstein). Bornstein’s statement that one gender will always seek dominance is shown currently
