The effects of gender trouble: An integrative theoretical framework of the perpetuation and disruption of the gender/sex binary

Abstract

In the Western world, gender has traditionally been viewed as binary and as following directly from biological sex. These views are slowly changing, both among experts and the general public, a change that has been met with strong opposition. In this paper, we explore the psychological processes underlying these dynamics. Drawing on Butler’s (1990) work on gender performativity as well as Goffman’s (1956) work on gender as a performance, we develop a psychological framework of the perpetuation and disruption of the gender/sex binary on a stage that facilitates and foregrounds binary gender/sex performance. Whenever character, costume, and script are not aligned the gender/sex binary is disrupted and gender trouble ensues. We integrate various strands of the psychological literature into this framework and explain the processes underlying these reactions. We propose that gender trouble can elicit threat: personal threat, group-based and identity threat, and system threat, which in turn lead to efforts to alleviate this threat through reinforcement of the gender/sex binary. Our framework challenges the way psychologists have traditionally treated gender/sex in theory and empirical work and proposes new avenues and implications for future research.