Dismantling gender polarization and compulsory heterosexuality: Should we turn the volume down or up?

Abstract

At the center of all my previous work on gender and sexuality has been the goal of shrinking both the relevance and the reach of the male/female dichotomy by trying, insofar as possible, to make it as minimal a presence in human social and psychological life as, say, eye color or foot size. Here, however, I argue that a more effective way to undo the privileged status of the two‐and‐only‐two categories of sex /gender / desire that are currently treated in Western culture as normal and natural may be to explode or proliferate such categories (i.e., to turn the volume up) rather than try to eliminate them (i.e., to turn the volume down). In making this argument, I discuss the work of three scholars whose ideas are central: philosopher Judith Butler, anthropologist Mary Douglas, and developmental geneticist Anne Fausto‐Sterling.