The Potential is Endless
Sandra Bem is a psychologist who has written several books and articles on the subjects of gender and sex. Her solution to the oppressiveness of the gender binary is to create a spectrum of genders with male and female as the two polars. In her article "Dismantling Gender Polarization and Compulsory Heterosexuality: Should we Turn the Volume Down Or Up?" , she suggests creating gender categories based off a combination of biological sex (male/female), gender (masculine/feminine) and sexuality (heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual). Using just the standard categories, 18 new genders would be constructed. Once one considers the variation of each standard category the number of new genders could be infinitesimal (Bem 333). She maintains that a multitude of genders would render gender as insignificant as eye color (Bem 334).
The creation of multiple genders provides more options for people who do not fit within the binary. It does not, however, address the needs of those who feel no inherent gender or whose gender identity fluctuates.
Bem defends her solution by recognizing this weakness and explaining that in order for it to address these issues the genders categories will have to be fluid. Additionally, society will have to give people the option to change their gender label and then accept those who do.
Bem, Sandra. "Dismantling Gender Polarization and Compulsory Heterosexuality: Should we Turn the Volume Down Or Up?" The Journal of Sex Research 32.4 (1995): 329-34.
