The Creation of the Gender Binary
(The Recapitulation Theory)
The Recapitulation Theory states “that primitive societies represented cultural stages that fell short of a compete civilization exemplified by the societies of Western Europe (Russett 52).” In the late 19th century German zoologist Ernst Haeckel developed the Recapitulation Theory which justified the European dismissal of indigenous culture and customs. The acceptance of multiple genders was associated with the cultures of the indigenous people Europeans colonized and sought to ‘civilize’. Europeans refused to recognize the merits of the belief in a gender spectrum because they believed every aspect of indigenous culture was inherently inferior to their own. The harder missionaries and other Europeans worked in non-western societies to discredit the notion of a plurality of genders, the further they entrenched the dichotomy into their own culture.
Modern scientists and anthropologists reject the Recapitulation Theory; yet its effects are still felt to today as western society clings to the gender dichotomy.
