#92 - The End of Binaries | Kevin Richardson

#92 - The End of Binaries | Kevin Richardson

From The Ethical Frontier by Jason Chen

April 26, 2026 · 59 min · Episode 92

About this episode

Kevin Richardson discusses the shift away from binary gender and sexual orientation categories through the lens of spatial theory.

You can support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/chenphilosophy Kevin Richardson is a professor of philosophy at Duke University. Website: https://kevinrichardson.org/ Book: https://academic.oup.com/book/61709 Summary:There is an emerging shift away from identifying with the standard binary gender (male/female) and sexual orientation (gay/straight) categories. This shift has frightened some and been a source of confusion for others. This book presents a new way to understand gender and sexuality beyond the binary categories: the spatial theory. According to the spatial theory, a person’s gender or sexuality should be understood as a location within a multidimensional space. Just as the boundaries of countries divide up geographical territories, social boundaries divide up regions of gender and sexuality space.

People in this episode

Host: Jason Chen

Guest: Kevin Richardson

Topics covered

  • gender identity
  • sexual orientation
  • binary categories
  • spatial theory
  • philosophy

Keywords

  • gender
  • sexuality
  • binary
  • philosophy
  • spatial theory
  • Duke University
  • Kevin Richardson

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Duke University, Oxford University Press

Books & works: The End of Binaries

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