A common, yet mostly unknown, way of thinking in The United States is that the world operates in a binary, black-and-white fashion. For example, there are only two genders, there are only two political parties, and you're either homosexual or you're heterosexual. You're one thing or you're the other; there are no in-betweens. If you are in between, then you are seen as abnormal, strange, and socially taboo by the vast majority. In reality, this is not how the rest of the world (and life in general) operates. Having only two options per category makes labeling unfamiliar territory "easy" for your brain, but it limits your thinking and perspective on life tremendously.
This way of thinking has continuously reared its ugly head in response to current events. The most recent dilemma: who is which gender. The fact of the matter is that the days of there only being two genders and their respective gender pronouns are over, as they should be. Nowadays, there are actually dozens of options for gender, and it should be no concern of yours if someone identifies as a gender different than what you have labeled them. It's their gender (or lack thereof). Not yours. If this confuses you or even scares you, you suffer from binary thinking.
Binary thinking is also being expressed by the level of dissatisfaction voters are feeling toward the options for the 2016 presidential election. Many people who hold loyalties to one party but don't like the candidate that their party has selected (or will select) will refuse to vote or vote in spite of another candidate in the upcoming election. In a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll taken to asses a hypothetical election between Trump and Clinton, "nearly half (47 percent) of those who said they'd support Trump said it was because they don't want Hillary Clinton to win ... [and] nearly half (46 percent) of those who said they'd vote for Clinton said it was because they don't want Trump to win." If you resonate with this, then you also suffer from binary thinking. The Republican and Democratic candidates are not your only options for president; I strongly encourage you to research the other hundreds of presidential candidates and vote for someone in this upcoming election.
The LGBTQIA community has also experienced backlash from binary thinking for the past several years. Although the binary thinking has shifted from "you either like men or you like women," binary thinking is still present in the thought of "you are either gay or you are straight."
This leaves out half of the community. The abbreviation "LGBT" is frequently used by the media, but this is an abbreviation of an abbreviation; the "QIA" (queer, intersex, and asexual) part of the full LGBTQIA abbreviation is frequently left out.
Since queer, intersex, and asexual individuals are not regularly included in the "LGBT" abbreviation, they are wrongly deemed especially abnormal by many people. For example, if you just look up "intersex" on Google, this definition (unfortunately) pops up:
The definition for "intersex" on the Intersex Society of North America's website is very different. It reads: "'Intersex' is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male." There is nothing in this definition labeling these conditions as abnormal just because they don't fit into the two categories of male and female. The definition is objective, informative, and more representative -- the way definitions should be.
I leave you with this final thought: The next time someone or something seems abnormal or outrageous to you, think about it a little harder. Are you thinking about it in terms of black and white? Is it abnormal or outrageous because it doesn't fit in to how you view the world? Consider that maybe, just maybe, your reality is not the same as everyone else's and that your own brain and subsequent way of thinking is severely limiting your ability to understand and enjoy parts of life that you would otherwise if you just introduced a little color into your black-and-white thought process.
