Androgyny
From Homolexis Glossary
An androgynous individual is one who has the characteristics of both sexes. In the interests of conceptual clarity, this quality should be distinguished from hermaphroditism in the strict sense, whereby the fusion of male and female is anatomically expressed through the presence, or partial presence, of both sets of genital organs. There is a tendency to consider androgyny primarily psychic and constitutional, while hermaphroditism is anatomical. In this perspective most (psychic) androgynes are not strictly hermaphrodites in that anatomically they are no different from other men and women; some hermaphrodites may not be androgynous, that is to say, despite their surplus organ endowment, they behave in an essentially masculine or feminine way. Androgyny belongs to the general trope of Intermediacy.
The term androgyne stems from the Greek androgynos, "man-woman." The famous myth recounted in Plato's Symposium presents three primordial double beings: the man-man, the woman-woman, and the man-woman. The first two are the archetypes of the male homosexual and lesbian respectively; the third, the androgynos, is--paradoxically from the modem point of view--the source of what we would now call the heterosexual. Other ancient writers use the term to refer to an anatomical intermediate between the two genders, synonymous with hermaphroditos. From this practice stems the modern conflation of the meaning of the two terms, which is unlikely to disappear.
Cross-cultural material bearing on androgyny is very extensive, especially in the religious sphere. Hinduism and some African religions acknowledge male gods who have female manifestations or avatars. A strand of Jewish medieval interpretation of Genesis holds that Adam and Eve were androgynous before the Fall. If this be the case, God himself must be androgynous since he made man "in his own image." Working from different premises, medieval Christian mystics found that the compassion of Christ required that he be conceived of as a mother. Jakob Böhme (1575-1624), the German seer, held that all perfect beings, Christ as well as the angels, were androgynous. He foresaw that ultimately Christ's sacrifice would make possible restoration of the primal androgyny. Contemporaneously, the occult discipline of alchemy presented androgyny as a basic cosmic feature. After a period of neglect, interest in the theme resurfaced among the German romantics. Franz von Baader (1765-1841), who interpreted the sacrament of marriage as a symbolic restitution of angelic bisexuality, believed that primordial androgyny would return as the world neared its end. In France the eccentric Evades (Eve & Adam) thinkers advocated the equality of man and woman; one of their leaders, Ganneau, styled himself Mapah. The occultist and decadent writer Josephin Péladan (1858-1918) was a tireless propagandist for androgyny; through his Rose + Croix society he had a consider- able influence on Symbolism in the visual arts. In the twentieth century the psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was preoccupied with androgyny, which he illustrated through his ingenious, but eccentric interpretations of alchemical imagery. Some of his followers have suggested that androgyny is a way of overcoming dualism and regaining a primal unity; the half-beings of man and woman as we know them must yield to the complete man-woman. Thus androgyny points the way to a return to the Golden Age, an era of harmony unmarred by the conflict and dissension of today which are rooted in an unnatural polarization.
In the field of academic psychology, the research of Sandra L. Bem and others have sought to present empirical evidence that the androgynous individual enjoys better mental health and can function better socially. Significantly, it is usually "androgynous" women who score higher on such psychological tests than men. Thus these findings may be an artifact of the strategic situation in which a career- minded women finds herself: to succeed in a male-defined professional world an ambitious woman will find it expedient to incorporate some male qualities. The androgynous ideal had considerable appeal for feminist and gay/lesbian thinkers in the 1970s. It was pointed out, no doubt correctly, that the straitjacket of the masculine role tended to keep men from expressing their feelings, as through kissing or crying. Men can practice a wider range of expressiveness, and therefore lead more satisfying lives, if they will discard the extreme polarization inherent in the traditional masculine role. Science fiction writings, notably the Left Hand of Darkness (1969) by Ursula LeGuin, explored what complete androgyny might mean. In popular culture there was a kind of "androgyne chic," as exemplified by such rock stars as David Bowie and Boy George.
In current usage an androgyne is a person who does not fit neatly into the typical masculine and feminine gender roles sanctioned by their society. Many androgynes identify as being mentally between male and female, or as entirely genderless. The former may also use the term bigender or pangender, or ambigender; the latter non-gendered or agender. In the course of their lives they may experience mental swings between genders, a state sometimes characterized as gender-fluid. Intergender is another word that androgynes may use to describe being between or beyond genders. As neologisms all these terms remain relatively rare in general usage.
Towards the end of the twentieth century, a new focus on transpersons developed. This concept elided the previously distinct categories of cross-dressing and transsexuality. In everyday parlance persons who fit this category are termed trannies.
Lesbians who do not define themselves as butch or femme may identify with various other labels including androgynous or androg for short.
A recently coined word, often used to refer to androgynes, is genderqueer. Yet 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 parameters of standard gender norms. An androgyne may be attracted to people of any gender, though many identify as pansexual or asexual.
