Inspiration of the week
This week Sustainability editor Flora Dickie recommends the book 'Beyond the gender binary' as an important sustainability read
We cannot imagine a just and sustainable future without the inclusion of all peoples.
Erasure of certain persons due to their gender non-conformity is not acceptable. This book explores why we need to move beyond the gender binary as a cultural belief which creates ‘conflict and division’. Gender non-conforming people face harassment and prejudice for just being. Our society demonises those who don’t conform to either ‘man’ or ‘woman’, and this systemic discrimination serves to eliminate a minority group. In this way, gender non-conforming people are erased from society. For example, in 2019, the Department of Justice of the USA announced that trans and gender non-conforming workers were not to be protected by civil rights law.
This book explains the injustices and experiences of being gender non-conforming and why we need to go beyond the binary to have justice and safety for all. I highly recommend this book to everyone no matter your interests; For some, it may be education, and for others, it may be recognition as the author writes, ‘this book is dedicated to everyone who has ever been made to feel like they were too much or never enough’. It is part of a series by the Pocket Change Collective to spotlight activists, published by Penguin.
