# What Is a 'Binary' Person? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2019, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137 "2019-06-27T02:32:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/1 "2019-06-27T02:32:13Z")
I just know they are part of the LGBTQ spectrum. I certainly know what a bisexual person is. I learned it rather early on in life. And of course I know ‘binary’ means two (_duh_) So what exactly is a _‘binary’_ person? :):):)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/2 "2019-06-27T02:41:31Z")
A binary person is one who thinks there are only two genders and identifies with one of them. And is, therefore, not on the LGBTQA spectrum. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/3 "2019-06-27T02:59:33Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > A binary person is one who thinks there are only two genders and identifies with one of them. And is, therefore, not on the LGBTQA spectrum. Is this true? What if the person identifies as a gender that doesn’t match their physical characteristics? They are not on that spectrum? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/4 "2019-06-27T03:09:50Z")
Nm ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/5 "2019-06-27T03:23:22Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > I just know they are part of the LGBTQ spectrum. I think you’re confused with “non-binary”. A non-binary person is one who doesn’t identify as either feminine or masculine. They refuse to let other people define what they can and cannot do (including what they can and cannot wear, what professions they’re allowed to have, etc.) on the basis of their underwear’s content. There are binary people who are part of the LGBTQ spectrum, but it also includes non-binary ones. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/6 "2019-06-27T03:39:59Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > A binary person is one who thinks there are only two genders and identifies with one of them. And is, therefore, not on the LGBTQA spectrum. :dubious: **Most** people on the LGBTQ spectrum are binary, it just means they identify as either male or female. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/7 "2019-06-27T04:45:00Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > :dubious: **Most** people on the LGBTQ spectrum are binary, it just means they identify as either male or female. It also has nothing to do with what you believe. You can believe there’s more than one gender and still be binary. And you can be on the LGBTQ spectrum, and only believe in two genders. (Like them or not, TERFs count on the spectrum, since they’re gay) ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/8 "2019-06-27T05:49:22Z")
I think Nava is correct. I’m familiar with the concept of a “non-binary person”, someone who rejects the idea that gender is a simple male/female binary, and doesn’t regard either of these as an adequate identification for themselves. But I’ve never heard of a “binary person”. Presumably there are many people who do regard gender as a simple male/female binary, but those people will identify themselves either as “male” or as “female”, but certainly not as “binary”, so they won’t call themselves “binary people”, and I have never heard the term as a label for that group. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/9 "2019-06-27T06:22:00Z")
You’re right that the phrase is unfamiliar. Only because it’s the all-pervasive default and goes unquestioned as a rule, and hence unmarked. Like water to a fish. Personally, I’m an utterly binary woman, but I don’t see why the binary has to be so all-pervasive. Let nonbinary folks have space to live in too. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/10 "2019-06-27T13:07:41Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > (Like them or not, TERFs count on the spectrum, since they’re gay) :dubious: Cite? TERF; Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. Some may well be gay, but I’ve never heard a definition of TERF that requires it. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/11 "2019-06-27T14:10:56Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I think you’re confused with “non-binary”… > . (re: the OP’s question). Yeah, that. > [@Slash1972](#): > > Is this true? What if the person identifies as a gender that doesn’t match their physical characteristics? They are not on that spectrum? Excellent question. I’m in that situation and it’s _not_ obvious to me whether I am “nonbinary” or not. I identify as one of the two conventional genders but it doesn’t match my physical characteristics. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/12 "2019-06-27T14:24:31Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Excellent question. I’m in that situation and it’s _not_ obvious to me whether I am “nonbinary” or not. I identify as one of the two conventional genders but it doesn’t match my physical characteristics. I think if you identify with either “traditional” gender, you’re not non-binary. Most trans folks aren’t non-binary. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/13 "2019-06-27T14:53:47Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > A binary person is one who thinks there are only two genders and identifies with one of them. And is, therefore, not on the LGBTQA spectrum. I don’t think this is correct. A person could identify as male or female (i.e. binary) but fully believe that non-binary gender identities exist. And of course that person could be gay and/or trans. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/14 "2019-06-27T14:56:13Z")
As with so many other things, humans like to sort things into nice, neat categories, and every time we do, reality comes up with things that don’t conform to those nice, neat categories. And the usual human response to that is to just come up with more categories… which will still probably not cover everything. Not even if you just call one of the categories “other”. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/15 "2019-06-27T15:39:18Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I think if you identify with either “traditional” gender, you’re not non-binary. Most trans folks aren’t non-binary. Well, yes, but most (the majority, I think; not the overwhelming majority) trans folks wish or intend to blend in with the sex associated with the gender with which they identify – a position that is reflected in the oft-repeated maxim “a trans woman is a woman; a trans man is a man; what’s in their underwear or whether or not they take hormones is none of your business”. That makes them binary in the sense that their sex (as they wish it to be attributed and perceived, the absence of which attribution would constitute misgendering) directly corresponds with their gender, as opposed to having a _different_ value. I’m not intending to contradict you and claim that a person who is female and identifies as a boy or man _is_ definitely nonbinary. It’s more that the definition doesn’t address this situation one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/16 "2019-06-27T15:48:40Z")
_“I asked what LGBTQ stood for, but I couldn’t get a straight answer…”_ ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/17 "2019-06-27T17:19:54Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > (Like them or not, TERFs count on the spectrum, since they’re gay) > [@Filbert](#): > > :dubious: Cite? > > TERF; Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. Some may well be gay, but I’ve never heard a definition of TERF that requires it. Unless she meant “gay” as in “lame” :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/18 "2019-06-27T17:31:03Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > (Like them or not, TERFs count on the spectrum, since they’re gay) Some TERFs are lesbians, some are “political lesbians”, but there are plenty of straight TERFs. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/19 "2019-06-27T19:08:32Z")
I get the impression that the term ‘nonbinary’ as it relates to gender identity and expression actually gained wide use before the term ‘binary’ was used (in the same domain), and that ‘binary’ developed because referring to someone as un-nonbinary is just not going work. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137/20 "2019-06-27T23:29:46Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > I get the impression that the term ‘nonbinary’ as it relates to gender identity and expression actually gained wide use before the term ‘binary’ was used (in the same domain), and that ‘binary’ developed because referring to someone as un-nonbinary is just not going work. There it is. The paradox of talking about the unmarked, unquestioned default. You actually have to coin new words to even talk about it. Similar to “cisgender.” The word “heterosexual” must have been coined because the language first had “homosexual” and then a name was needed for the heretofore unmarked default. Like a thesis generating its antithesis. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-binary-person/836137.md?page=2)