Binaries - a binary describes a construction of two entities which are seen as separate and opposed from one another.
Transnational feminism challenges various binaries within and beyond feminist praxis. The most commonly challenged binary within feminist practice is the gender binary, which constructs feminized and masculinized bodies as categorical opposites with assigned values and traits. Transnational feminism questions the gender binary alongside other binary constructs while considering how migration, white supremacy, capitalism, and colonization contribute to social binaries. Some binaries challenged by transnational feminism include: West versus East/Arab/Muslim, citizen versus non-citizen, migrant versus enemy, global versus local, practice versus theory, and first world versus third world. Destabilizing binaries is important to transnational feminism because it encourages feminists to question social categories as well as the oversimplification of political issues, for example, the war on terror.
Academic Source: Browne, K. (2016). Gender binaries. In A. Goldberg (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of lgbtq studies (pp. 445-445). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781483371283.n165
Author: jbb28
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