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Androgynous




Androgyny is a term derived from the s or having a lack of gender identification. The first is the mixing of Masculine and Feminine characteristics, be it the example of the loud fashion statements of musicians like Hideto Matsumoto , Gackt Camui , Miyavi , Aoi and Uruha of The GazettE , Bou of Antique Cafe , Mana , old school Dir En Grey , X-Japan (and most any other male in the Visual Kei music genre today), David Bowie and Boy George , or the balance of " Anima " and " Animus " in Jungian Psychoanalytic Theory . The second is in describing something that is neither masculine nor feminine, for example the Hijras of India who are often described as "neither man nor woman" or Angels which are often portrayed as genderless.



ANDROGYNOUS TRAITS

Androgynous traits are those that either have no gender value, or have some aspects generally attributed to the opposite gender. , although there is a politicized version known as Genderqueer .

To say that a culture or relationship is androgynous is to say that it lacks rigid Gender Role s and that the people involved display characteristics or partake in activities traditionally associated with the other gender. The term ''androgynous'' is often used to refer to a person whose look or build make determining their gender difficult but is generally not used as a synonym for actual Intersexuality , Transgender or Two-spirit people. Occasionally, people who do not actually define themselves as androgynes adapt their physical appearance to look androgynous. This outward androgyny has been used as a fashion statement, and some of the milder forms of it (women wearing men's pants/men wearing skirts, for example) are not perceived as Transgender ed behavior.

Lesbian s who don't define themselves as Butch Or Femme may identify with various other labels including ''androgynous'' or ''andro'' for short. A few other examples include Lipstick Lesbian , Tomboy , and 'tom suay' which is Thai for 'beautiful butch'. Some lesbians reject Gender Performativity labels altogether and resent their imposition by others. Note that androgynous and butch are often considered equivalent definitions, though less so in the butch/femme scene.

A recently-coined word, often used to refer to androgynes, is Genderqueer . However, this term can be used to refer to anyone who identifies as Transgender , or even someone who identifies as Cisgender but whose behavior falls outside the average standard gender norms. An androgyne may be attracted to people of any gender, though many identify as Pansexual or Asexual . Terms such as Bisexual , Heterosexual , and Homosexual have less meaning for androgynes who do not identify as male or female to begin with. Infrequently the words Gynephilia And Androphilia are used, which refer to the gender of the person someone is attracted ''to'', and do not imply any particular gender on the part of the person who is feeling the attraction.

People who show Androgyny traits are seen in Psychology as being the most mentally stable individuals because they can see situations from both a masculine and feminine perspective. They tend to also handle social situations better than people who are typically defined as solely masculine or solely feminine.


ANDROGYNES

An androgyne is a person who does not fit cleanly into the typical Masculine and Feminine Gender Roles of their society. Many androgynes identify as being mentally "between" male and female, or as entirely genderless. The former may also use the term ''ambigender'', the latter ''non-gendered'' or ''agender''. They may experience mental swings between genders, sometimes referred to as being '' Bigender '' or ''gender fluid''.

Intergender is also a word that androgynes can use to describe being between or beyond genders. ''Androgyne'' used to be primarily used as a synonym for Hermaphrodite (a term since replaced by the word Intersex ), but this usage has fallen out of favor.

Androgynes sometimes refer to themselves using Gender-neutral Pronouns or the Singular They . A few even take steps toward transitioning from their birth sex into a physically androgynous form.


ANDROGYNY IN CULTURE

  • Various Alchemical , Magical and Metaphysical traditions had an allegorical figure named variously the Alchemical Androgyne'' Alchemical Androgyne '' and the Divine Androgyne. All these concepts are derived from the sense of unity that a combination of femininity and masculinity in one being implies.


In fiction, androgynous characters are growing in popularity.:


Anime and manga

Androgynous characters are readily apparent in Anime and Manga , possibly due to the concept of beautifully feminine boys known as Bishōnen . Also, Transsexual or Crossdressing characters are relatively common when compared to Western media.







Video Game s



Literature



Movies and TV

  • The movie Orlando follows the young nobleman Orlando, who lives through four centuries in Britain and changes sex on the way, ending up as an androgynous being.

  • In the movie Stargate , the Egyptian god Ra is portrayed as an androgynous figure.

  • In the episode of entitled '' The Outcast '', The Enterprise helps an androgynous race.

  • In the episode of entitled '' Fight Or Flight '', The Enterprise investigates the murder of a crew of an androgynous species.

  • Saturday Night Live 's popular character " Pat ", played by Julia Sweeney, was portrayed as an androgynous figure.

  • In Constantine , the archangel Gabriel was depicted as being androgynous, although played by Tilda Swinton , wearing a Suit in once scene while wearing wearing genderless clothing in his/her next appearance.

  • The figure of Satan in Mel Gibson's film The Passion Of The Christ is presented as genderless. The character was portrayed by a woman, Rosalinda Celentano .

  • The Movie and the Graphic Novel ''300'' both showed the Persian king, Xerxes I as an androgynous figure.

  • Both of the characters of Hedwig and Tommy in Hedwig And The Angry Inch were androgynous, although to different extremes.

  • In the Angel episode Orpheus , Willow Rosenberg calls the eponymous main character's son Connor androgynous, saying, "You must be Angel's handsome yet androgynous son."

  • The movie Dogma directed by Kevin Smith features angels which appeared to be male (they are played by male actors, use the men's restroom, and are frequently mistaken for human men) but are anatomically neuter, and a Muse played by Selma Hayek who appears female (and works as a performer in a strip bar) but is also anatomically neuter and makes it clear that she does not identify as a woman.

  • Katherine Moennig who portrays Shane in The L Word has androgynous qualities both in the show and in real life.

  • The character Switch from The Matrix is described as an androgyne in the screenplay, and it is rumored that she was originally a man while still trapped in the Matrix and switched genders after being freed and finding out her true gender.



Music



SEE ALSO



REFERENCES




  • Bem, Sandra L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 42, 155-62

  • Dynes, Wayne ''Androgyny'' Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. Dynes, Wayne R. (ed.), Garland Publishing, 1990. pp. 56-68.

  • LIlar, Suzanne , ''Le couple'' (1963), Paris, Grasset; Translated as ''Aspects of Love in Western Society'' in 1965, with a foreword by Jonathan Griffin, New York, McGraw-Hill.



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