Ternary or trinary genders are three primary pre-existing gender identities accessible within ones own culture. This gender arity usually includes binary genders and a tertiary gender. This tertiary identity can be a third gender or other abinary identity, such as neutrois/neither (or none), or liaspec centrigender, such as androgyne/both, generally monogender, not necessarily allogender.[2]
Gender trinarism is often considered a form of exorsexist discrimination towards non-trinary and atrinary individuals, reinforcing an extension of gender binarism. It could be either in ways of language or identity.
It may also affect non-binary/binaryn't and gender/pronoun non-conforming individuals, such as enforcing trinary expectations of men using he/him pronouns and having masculine presentation, women using she/her pronouns and being feminine, or non-binary individuals using they/them and looking androgynous or neutral.
Gender trinary may also be known as gender trichotomy, gender trifecta, or gender triform.
History
The first mention of gender trinary is recorded since 2011 in the book named The Lives of Transgender People.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] It was then conditionally used interchangeably with gender quaternary, as both and neither can be two tertiary identities.[10][11]
In June 2018, Tumblr user exorsexistbullshit defines gender trinarism as the idea that all non-binary people are just a separate gender from women and men.[12][13] The term is later used in some academic articles.[14][15]
Criticism
Some individuals, particularly those who are non-binary, have criticized the idea of a gender trinary as exorsexist. One of the earliest criticisms can be traced back to July 8th, 2017, where Tumblr user fliipclaw would state
"the gender binary doesn't exist and neither does the gender trinary but you wouldn't know that from how people act ...#'gender trinary' is a cool new term I'm using to describe a kind of exorsexism and misunderstanding of nb people"[16]
Tumblr user themaveriqueagenda would also make posts criticizing the idea in 2024, stating that the gender trinary is a "deeply exorsexist concept as it implies that there is a single nonbinary gender out there that is more legitimised than all the others, often said to be a neutral gender."[17]
Resources
- ↑ https://beyond-mogai-pride-flags.tumblr.com/post/189240757695/gender-trinary-flag
- ↑ https://leptrois.wordpress.com/2021/05/24/trinary-timeline/
- ↑ https://arco-pluris.tumblr.com/post/171948794652/non-trinary-or-non-quaternary-abinary-with
- ↑ Western Scholarship on Third Genders: What does the Gender “Trinary” Do? | Abstract Gallery | AAG Annual Meeting 2018 (secure-abstracts.com)
- ↑ https://gendersexuality.northwestern.edu/about/news/gss-year-end-celebratories-2022.html
- ↑ https://psychiatry.ucsd.edu/_files/diversity/hyde.pdf
- ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=o84zGmbj2y8C&lpg=PA166&ots=o_AnsPUJGA&dq=gender%20trinary&pg=PA166#v=onepage&q=gender%20trinary&f=false
- ↑ https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/407922/12553.pdf?sequence=1
- ↑ https://nbvisualnarratives.ca/2021/11/27/you-look-nonbinary-an-oxymoron/
- ↑ https://arco-pluris.tumblr.com/post/171983193127/unspecific-quaternary-genders
- ↑ https://arco-pluris.tumblr.com/post/172151615057/nonquaternary-pride-flags
- ↑ https://exorsexistbullshit.tumblr.com/post/174580586008/well-idk-if-this-is-better-called-xorsexism-or
- ↑ https://leptrois.tumblr.com/post/652080651903909888/trinary-timeline
- ↑ https://academic.oup.com/ywcct/article-abstract/28/1/311/5913147
- ↑ https://rsdjournal.org/index.php/rsd/article/view/33741/28681
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20240824000629/https://www.tumblr.com/fliipclaw/162748520595/the-gender-binary-doesnt-exist-and-neither-does?source=share
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20240824003057/https://www.tumblr.com/themaveriqueagenda/752888904830550016/i-dont-get-what-you-mean-by-this?source=share