Transgender activist Kate Bornstein said limiting gender to either male or female is a warped idea.
Bornstein, a transgender author, playwright, activist and gender theorist, said there are no true binaries in nature at a Feb. 24 event.
“We don’t live in a vacuum,” she said.
Bornstein said that American society, which constantly uses the idea of “either/or,” is a bullying society.
She said the role that a person’s gender or sexuality plays when with a lover is not the same role that gender or sexuality plays with family, a police officer, a friend or a teacher.
She also said gender can be what we make for ourselves.
Bornstein compared gender self-identity construction to the concept of dressing in drag, which she said is something that all people consciously use to create a look in order to evoke a response.
She said it is the simplest way that individuals can constantly change the roles that they play.
Despite evolving ideas on the gender binary system, Bornstein said that advocates are left with only the gay and lesbian political movement.
Bornstein said that this movement excludes bisexuals, asexuals, transgender individuals and other on the gender and sexuality spectrum.
Bornstein said that the radical left, which includes those people looking for equality across all lines of gender and sexuality, is not represented in the political movements of U.S. society.
She said those working to discover their own identities build coalitions within their communities.
“This is what we can bring to the coalition table: a sexy good time,” Bornstein said.
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