If youâve been keeping up with world affairs, you might have noticed that the debate around binary genders has never been more heated (hiii USA!). The return of the trad wifeâa modern rebranding of the 1950s housewife, complete with âcottagecoreâ aesthetics and an Instagram-filtered devotion to submissionâis just one symptom of a much larger issue.
Weâre witnessing a cultural rewind, a desperate attempt to shove people back into neatly labeled boxes of âmenâ and âwomenâ. While conservative voices have long championed this binary mindset, recent events have placed our strides toward an inclusive society under unprecedented threat.
Gender has never been that simple. And the fact that weâre still having this debate in 2025? Embarrassing.
Why Are We Still Here?
The idea of two strict genders isnât an inherent truthâitâs a social construct, shaped by power structures. While biological sex is assigned at birth based on anatomy, gender is a complex, evolving identity shaped by cultural expectations and personal experience.
For centuries, societies worldwide have recognized gender as fluid. Indigenous North American cultures embraced Two-Spirit identities, hijras have been part of South Asian societies for centuries, and even pre-modern Europe had more nuanced understandings of gender. So why is the binary still treated as a universal fact?
One of the earliest examples of strict gender divisions can be traced back to ancient Greece, where masculinity was glorified and femininity was often dismissed as weak, emotional, and subordinate. This hierarchy shaped much of Western history, with brief exceptionsâlike the Renaissance, when femininity was idealized in art and literature. But the real turning point came with the rise of the Catholic Church.
During the Middle Ages, religious teachings cemented the belief that men and women had fixed, separate rolesâmen as leaders and providers, women as obedient caretakers confined to domestic spaces. These rigid ideas werenât just internalized; they were actively spread through colonization, forcing diverse cultures to abandon their more fluid understandings of gender.
The Enlightenment era reinforced them from a scientific perspective. Anatomy and classification became tools to define what was considered ânormalâ and âabnormal,â tying gender strictly to biology. By the 19th century, these ideas had evolved into strict definitions of sexuality and behavior, creating rigid gender roles that still influence us today.
Letâs be clear: the gender binary isnât about biologyâitâs about power and control. Itâs about forcing people into predefined roles to keep a certain system intact. Men are told their worth is in dominance. Women are told theirs is in submission. And anyone who doesnât fit? Well, theyâre conveniently erased from the conversation.
The persistence of rigid gender roles isnât just outdatedâitâs a tool for maintaining hierarchies. The rise of the trad wife aesthetic, much like the push for hyper-masculinity in men, is a reactionary movement, a way for those in power to reinforce a past where gender was a tool of social order.
So, What Now?
Well, it depends on the kind of world we want to live in. Personally, I envision a future where everyone is free to identify however they pleaseâa world that honors our individual complexities instead of shoving us into outdated categories. In my ideal future, progress isnât something we roll back the moment it challenges the status quo.
Stand up for who you are and fight for that vision. It might sound audacious, but we live in a democratic society. Our voice still counts. Change starts at home, and each of us has a role in shaping history. Now, more than ever, itâs essential to contribute to a future where diverse identities are acknowledged and celebrated, rather than suppressed by nostalgia-fueled regression.
We owe it to ourselves, our predecessorsâand to the generations that followâto keep moving forward and build a society that truly reflects the richness of human identity.