
#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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