What is Binary Opposition

Binary Opposition has roots in Saussurean structuralist theory in linguistics where two ‘opposites’ are defied by one another and get compared. Examples of binary opposites:

• Good vs Evil
  • Black vs white
    • Masculinity vs Femininity

‘Masculinity and femininity’ is a common example of binary opposites and a common comparison for backgrounds, discrimination and privilege. It is an easy comparison to make and is one of many that is commonly mentioned in conversations about identity politics and culture wars.

Identity Politics and Culture Wars

Identity Politics are politics based on identity. Many factors influence and makeup someone’s identity such as:

• Race,
• Nationality,
• Religion,
• Gender, and
• Social background

Identity by definition is a factual makeup of a person, however it is also a personal interpretation of what makes you you. Personal identity can bring people with similar struggles, opinions and backgrounds together, but can similarly split two people apart for little reason creating tension which builds into ‘culture wars’.

A culture war is a cultural conflict between different social groups who struggle to impose their own ideology. They can be small and harmless grown out of innocent competition or aggressive and hate filled.

Identity can bring people together by harnessing their joined identity to create a community. This group could be a positive thing aimed to help and boost one another but could also become a negative environment if each person holds grudges and fuel one another’s hatred. These communities can build within a geographical location or online in recent times.

Recently left wing LGBT communities have taken over the media. Some label this movement ‘woke propaganda’ as though communities haven’t been fighting for genuine respect for decades. This community strays from the traditional Binaries of gender and therefore defy stereotypical gender norms which upsets conservatives.

The LGBT community has culminated a bad reputation online from loud individuals who attack ‘wrong’ or uneducated individuals for disagreeing with their opinions. They are known to ‘doxx’ these individuals which puts them in harms way. Despite the loud commotion on sites like twitter, other sites are relatively quiet since the large group is not as easily connected.

Groups with shared identities are often sectioned into subcultures online. These can help young people connect and socialise with people with similar interests and feel understood. They could also push young people to become closed off and distant from ‘outsiders’. These communities are also infamous for weaponizing joined identity or radicalisation.

Masculinity vs Femininity

This is one of the most prevalent examples of binary opposition which is acknowledged even by children in the playground due to the ‘social norms’ pushed by society from a very young age. This is achieved in many ways including: marketing, characters in tv and personal experiences. This both separates the two and pits them against each other creating competition and unease.

The differences between the two could be as simple as long hair being associated with girls and short hair with boys. Not particularly harmful stereotypes but prevalent ones regardless.

Masculine stereotypes:

Strength, aggression, well educated, breadwinner, provider, emotionally unavailable, anger, blues, reds, gyms, positions of power, power in general, cars, dinosaurs, trains, army, work, trousers

Feminine stereotypes:

Elegance, emotional, mothers, uneducated, compassion, children, care, house, ribbons, pink, purple, ballet, cooking, cleaning, dresses

Women are often seen as inferior for being emotional, weaker and dumber due to a past of different education and standards being measuring with men’s strengths in mind.