“The future is not binary”: On the necessity of wishing

The fact that queer and transphobia is real is not only shown in the hate and rejection-filled comment columns under online posts that deal with the concerns and problems of queer people in Germany. The number of murders of trans people recorded worldwide is still shockingly high: according to monitoring by transrespect.org, over three hundred murders were reported annually in the years 2021-2023. Violence against queer people, especially trans people, is also increasing in Germany. One of the best-known examples is the killing of 25-year-old Malte C. during a Christopher Street Day event in Münster in the summer of 2022.

But it’s not just the number of violent crimes that is frightening, but also the ignorance on the part of politicians and society towards the needs of queer people. Half-baked and still discriminatory draft laws such as the Self-Determination Act passed in 2023, the still inadequate health care and the constant devaluation by right-wing conservative actors force queer and trans people into an everyday struggle for recognition, dignity and security.

In order to give space to queer realities and identities, their challenges and difficulties, but above all the potential of a diverse society, Lydia Meyer wrote “The Future is Not Binary”. The well-researched and easy-to-understand discourse not only questions the dual gender order, but also exposes conservative worldviews and values ​​and refutes anti-queer narratives through coherent arguments. »It is difficult if not impossible to adopt an absolutely neutral perspective – it is all the more important to reveal from which perspective one thinks and tells the story (…). whiter Cis men don’t look at the world neutrally, it’s just constantly assumed that they do so because they do white “Cisgender perspective is still considered the norm, while other perspectives are dismissed as activism or even ideology,” explains Lydia Meyer in the foreword. And that’s exactly what it’s about: a loving acceptance of one’s own and other non-binary perspectives on politics, society, media, especially the pop culture representation of queer people. Anyone who was a teenager in the noughties will remember the television of that time – unrealistic body images and a fixation on stereotypical gender roles in the rigid division of male and female. Let’s think back to the few queer role models who have graced the screens in the last twenty years and what does it actually look like today?

What the author, editor and concept designer Lydia Meyer does particularly well is the confident refutation of transphobic argumentation patterns. The most persistent claim so far is that there are only two sexes by nature, which ignores the fact that sex or gender, like almost everything, is man-made and constructed. »Aside from the fact that organisms with more than two genders and animals that change gender also exist in nature, we are neither mushrooms nor single-celled organisms, snails, blobs, fish or birds, but humans and therefore social beings who live in societies and are shaped by their environment and the culture in which they grow up, as well as the associated gender roles, social norms and constraints.” Lydia Meyer describes, as an example, the many indigenous societies in which there are much broader and more diverse ideas about gender. The binary system and its enforcement are always linked to religion. This leads to the false assumption that multi-gender systems are modern. “Modern,” writes Lydia Meyer, “is only violence against them.”

Of course, as is often the case when it comes to questions about gender, language is an essential part of the entertaining but strong text. Why are language-critical changes always publicly devalued? Is our society not capable of learning? Yes, says Lydia Meyer and points to the new vocabulary during the Corona pandemic, which we were able to incorporate into our language quickly and without much effort. Through the many examples, the easy language and the sensitive narrative style, Lydia Meyer’s book is an invitation to everyone to deal with the topic of the binary gender order, but also to parents and grandparents of queer and trans children and young people who want to learn and understand something , because ultimately everyone benefits from a diverse, free and creative community. We must have the courage to express our wishes, as Lydia Meyer advocates gently but clearly: “While the world is collapsing around us, we must not forget how we would like to live together if it doesn’t end.”

Lydia Meyer: The future is not binary. Rowohlt, 224 pages, br., 14 €. Book presentation and conversation with Lydia Meyer and Paula Jeri Perschke on March 6th, 7 p.m., in the Salon at FMP1 Berlin, entry €8.

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