Foucault asserts that society has many binary oppositions that it forces onto individuals (“mad/sane; dangerous/harmless; normal/abnormal”). He believes that individuals aren’t held back by these binaries but they construct themselves within them. I think this is true in some cases. For example, let’s look at the classic “pink/blue” gender binary.
This is a perfect instance of society applying a binary to “quite different objects,” as Foucault puts it. I’m not denying that there are some girls and boys out there that are perfectly happy with pink and blue respectively. They have no problem defining themselves as individuals within that binary. However, there are plenty of others who don’t identify with the binary, or actively go against it. I know that as a child, I would much rather play with my brother’s dinosaurs than with Barbie dolls or My Little Ponies. Even though some reject the binary, in a way, they are still defining themselves by it. They are defining themselves as individuals by acknowledging that the binary exists. This is just one example of the way our society doesn’t usually entertain the idea that things are grayer or more complex than they appear. It is easier to apply a simple black-or-white, this-or-that way of thinking to a situation.
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