Episode 120: Robin Dembroff on going beyond the gender binary
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to Elucidations. I'm Stephen Chen, undergraduate intern for the podcast. In this episode, we have Professor Robin Dunbroff from Yale to discuss gender non-binary. Professor Dunbroff is an assistant professor at Yale University, working primarily on feminist philosophy and metaphysics. Their recent publications include What is Sexual Orientation? on Philosopher's Imprint, and Moving Beyond Mismatch on American Journal of Bioethics. Gender binary is typically understood as there being two discrete, exhaustive categories of gender, male and female. One problem of gender binary, as Professor Dembroff points out, is that a society entrenched in the idea of gender binary constrains a person's self-conceptualization and expression.
Professor Dembroff then discusses how to understand the concept of genderqueer or gender non-binary as a conceptual stance resisting the saturated dichotomy of masculinity and femininity. Other interesting topics covered include what other genders there are other than male and female, what are the patriarchy that the concept of gender non-binary is resisting, and what a world where gender is not institutionalized may look like.
What is the gender binary and why does it matter?
Hope you enjoy it.
Hello and welcome to Elucidations. I'm Matt Teichman, and with me today is Robin Dembroff, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, and they are here to discuss going beyond the gender binary. Robin Dembroff, welcome.
Thanks for having me, Matt.
So I think a natural first question here is what the phrase gender binary means. I guess one thing that might suggest is like, is it the idea that there are two genders or what exactly is the gender binary?
I think the way people tend to answer that question is just saying it's the idea that there are two genders. That's accurate, but not precise. What I would say instead is that it's the idea that there are two discrete, exhaustive gender categories.
How many gender categories exist beyond male and female?
That is, there are two gender categories, they're defined neatly in opposition to each other, and every person falls into one of those two categories.
Okay, good. So it's an exhaustive partition.
Correct.
Yeah. And just to be clear, the two genders are men and
women. Yes.
Yes.
Interesting. So what do you think?
What do terms like pangender, gender‑fluid, and agender actually mean?
Are there any other genders besides those two?
Given the way that I think about gender, given that I am understanding the term gender as it is used in trans-inclusive communities, yes, I do think there are more than two genders, despite the rights mantra. It's become this rallying cry on the right that there are only two genders. If you Google that phrase, there are only two genders, you get a lot of far-right websites.
Okay, so the menu of possible gender options, I guess, is a bit bigger than at least I was raised to believe it was. What are some of these other options?
So often some common identities include things like gender fluid, pangender, agender, genderqueer, so on.
Maybe we could take some of those in turn. So like, what would pangender be?
So the first thing to say, I guess, is that all of these terms are somewhat in flux and there is no single agreed upon definition of any of them. But I would say one of the most common understandings of pangender is someone who identifies with a variety of genders.
And would that be identifying with a variety of genders kind of all at once or like switching between them? Or like, would you feel that you're simultaneously a man and a woman or how does that work?
I think it's more the simultaneous. If it was a switching between, people tend to lean more towards the term gender fluid.
Why do some people prefer the label ‘gender‑queer’ over ‘non‑binary’?
Okay, so that was the next term in your list, gender fluid. So that's more like you experience your gender as something that switches over time between several different things.
Right. Yeah, I mean, two or more. Sometimes people who are gender fluid will articulate their experience as moving between being in something like guy mode and feminine mode or different terms along those lines.
And then agender, I guess, suggests that you don't have a gender?
Yeah, that there are no options that are recognized within the gender taxonomy that one identifies with.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:13
2
What is the gender binary and why does it matter?
1:13–2:23
3
How many gender categories exist beyond male and female?
2:23–2:44
4
What do terms like pangender, gender‑fluid, and agender actually mean?
2:44–4:09
5
Why do some people prefer the label ‘gender‑queer’ over ‘non‑binary’?
4:09–6:17
6
How does the patriarchy enforce a binary gender system?
6:17–13:22
7
What everyday obstacles do gender‑queer people face (IDs, bathrooms, pronouns)?
13:22–15:41
8
What changes could make public spaces and legal documents gender‑neutral?
15:41–32:24
Speakers
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