We’re Not Great At Moving From Binary Definitions To “Third” Paths

Men, women, and places.

Ted Bauer
4 min readOct 8, 2024

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This is a confusing title for some, so let me break down the basic concept first. Let’s think of three things:

  1. Men
  2. Women
  3. Neighborhoods/places to hang out

In each of those categories, there are typically two main definitions or concepts that get all the attention, just like in politics, I.e. “left” and “right.” But, also just like in politics, we need more definitions than that, and more ways to consider the bigger thing.

Let’s expand on this.

Places + Neighborhoods

You may be familiar with this concept of “third place.”

The binary on “places” is:

  1. Home
  2. Work

Let’s ignore that about 600,000 people in America are homeless, just for a second.

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Ted Bauer

I write about a lot of different topics, from work to masculinity to relationships and social dynamics, I.e. modern friendship. Pleasure to be here.