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ANDROGYNE ONLINE
by Stephe Feldman
Androgyny is a State of Mind
Androgyne (pronounced ANDRAjine
AN-dra-jine) is the term used to describe
persons who are androgynous. Androgyny, first and foremost, is a state
of mind, not just an attitude or fashion statement. The notion that only
androgynous-looking people can be or are androgynous is a misconception.
Androgynes can be said to have the gender identity of both a man and a
woman -- or neither. That is to say,
Some androgynes
consider themselves to be bigendered in that they identify
with both traditional genders, while others see their identity as more of
a synthesis and consider themselves to be agendered, as in "other" or
"none of the above." Some androgynes
go as far as to call themselves "gender outlaws"
(a term popularized by Kate Bornstein).
Not All Androgynous People Are Androgynes
Contrary to popular belief, having an androgynous appearance does
not necessarily make a person (an) androgyne. Many transsexuals are
transsexual without looking at all like the opposite sex, and many
androgynes are androgyne without looking the part. The word androgynous
can apply to both superficial and psychological characteristics, whereas
the word androgyne pertains almost specifically to gender identity, not
to looks. Just as all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are
squares, all androgynes are (psychologically)
androgynous but not all androgynous(-looking)
people are androgynes.
Many psychological androgynes do not understand who and what they
are. They may agonize for years, wondering how it is that they can feel
androgynous if they don't look that way. Self-perception and
self-identification are often problematic for androgynes because, in many
cases, their androgyneity is not readily apparent.
Androgynes Are of a Non-Polarized Gender
The term transgender has led all too many
tends to confuse androgynes to
confusion in that because it
is generally, transgender is
polarized into transvestite
crossdressers (formerly known as transvestites)
on one side and transsexuals on the other. Setting the two categories up
as opposites implies that transgender individuals either want to wear the
other sex's clothes or else want to change their anatomy to match the
other sex. Androgynes, however, may well want to wear the other sex's
clothing, but they do not want to change their anatomy to match the other
sex -- at least, they don't think about having
the other sex's anatomy often enough to resolve to do much about it
although some may opt for partial changes to make
themselves more physically androgynous. What differentiates
androgynes from transvestites
crossdressers and transsexuals is that
they do not identify fully with either masculinity or femininity: they are
either somewhere in the middle of the two,
or they consider themselves to be
something else entirely. Other names for androgyne (Greek for man/woman)
are nongendered, agendered,
ambigendered, epicene, gender gifted,
gender outlaw, intergendered (a term
coined by intersex people), ambigendered,
two-spirited, bigendered, non-binary
gender variant, nongendered, the third gender, and the fourth gender, the
third sex (a misnomer, really) -- and gender outlaw.
Related but non-synonymous terms would be eunuch,
bigendered (which applies mostly to crossdressers), gender bender,
genderqueer, gender variant, hijra, neutrois, and transgenderist. the third sex (which is usually a misnomer),
transgenderist, and two-spirit.
The terms crossdresser,
transgender, and
queer and even the seemingly more focused terms
gender variant and genderqueer are
way too inclusive and vague (although tend
to be too vague in that they all have macrocosmic (umbrella) and
microcosmic (specific) meanings. The
terms gender variant and genderqueer are more helpful).
The term transgender is misleading
especially problematic in that
is implies it
can imply that one changes from one gender to another, which
in the case of androgynes generally does not apply: once androgynes
find themselves, masculinity and femininity often cease to be polarities
for them. At first, newly self-aware androgynes may feel a need to
explore those aspects of themselves that they have long repressed due to
peer pressure or self-censure, but once indulged
sufficiently absorbed,
they tend to be
the aspects are re-incorporated into the
individual's identity -- which is a solitary persona. But
of those that do alternately identify alternately as men and women, it
could be argued that they are only transgender relativistically, because
when they are in their natural state, not thinking about their place along
the gender continuum, they are transcending gender.
Sex, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity are
Three Different Things
It is important to recognize that
Key to understanding androgyneity is a schema
wherein sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity are three
separate and different things. Sex denotes one's gonadal makeup.,
where Oone can be male, female, or intersex
(previously called hermaphrodite). Sexual orientation reflects the
sort(s) of person to whom one is attracted for sexual
purposes.,
where Oone can be attracted to males, to females,
to intersex people, to any combination of the three
--,
or be asexual. (The terms heterosexual,
homosexual and bisexual are problematic for the intersexed because the
intersexed are neither male nor female
not always clearly male or female.)
Gender identity refers to how one views oneself. A person can consider
themselves to be a man (masculine), a woman (feminine), or androgyne
(man/masculine and woman/feminine simultaneously, or neither).
Although sex and gender identity are two very different things, it
is interesting to note that androgyny
(a/k/a androgyneity, when
conceptualized as intergender),
can be seen as the psychological counterpart to intersex. Androgynes
can be both genders are intermediate in gender, while intersex(ed)
folks can be both sexes
are sexually intermediate. Basically,
sex refers to what's between your legs, while gender refers to what's
between your ears. That said, some intersex
activists opine that androgynes have intersex brains (and that
transsexuals are intersex on account of the relationship between their
brains and their genitalia).
Pinpointing the sexuality of transgender people -- especially that
of androgynes -- is so difficult that it really isn't worth trying to
explain. No one has a good answer, anyways. Even the 2004 book,
Bisexuality and Transgenderism: InterSEXions of the Others, which
collects 19 academic papers on the subject, is at a loss to provide a
useful understanding, so an explanation won't be attempted here.
Androgynes Have No
"Gender-based Opposite"
[this text was moved to the Androgynes Can Be "Tranny"
and Transamorous section:]
It has been observed that since androgynes do not have a "gender-
based opposite," they are therefore attracted to each other/one another.
While this may could be generally true, the fact remains that there are
male androgynes, female androgynes, and intersex androgynes, and among
these three groups, there are heterosexuals and asexuals, so the idea of
androgynes being attracted to each other does not necessarily entail
homosexual or bisexual attraction. (In fact, many reincarnational
theories hold that souls have no gender, i.e. they are neither male nor
female -- and that's why we reincarnate as both men and women -- so it
can be argued that mutual attraction between androgynes is deeply
spiritual.)
There are Four Components of Gender
Most people don't believe that androgyne is an authentic gender
identity because they see no significant evidence of it being the case,
so convincing them that it is requires a paradigm shift. Such a shift
doesn't come easily, and more often than not, it doesn't come at all. To
complicate matters, a misreading of the 1989 book Gender Trouble
by Judith Butler is responsible for the widespread misconception among
academics and activists that all gender is just a performance. As Riki
Wilchins points out in the 2004 book Queer Theory, Gender Theory: An
Instant Primer (pp. 132-34), what Butler really said was that gender
is performatively produced. Performative is defined as an
utterance that performs an act or creates a state of affairs, an example
being the use of the phrase "I now pronounce you man and wife" to create
a marriage. Butler herself has refuted the notion of gender being just
a performance. The phenomenon of transsexualism refutes it, too.
There are actually four components of gender: identity, presentation,
performance, and role. Gender identity concerns how you think about
yourself, gender presentation describes how you look physically and
sartorially, gender performance pertains to how you act or comport
yourself, and gender role refers to what you do for a living and what you
contribute to the domestic sphere. Taken together, the last three
components comprise gender expression. Gender identity is internal,
whereas gender expression is external, and that is why not all
androgynous-looking people are androgynes.
Some Transsexuals are Not Really Transsexual, but Androgyne
[ compare with unused, expanded four-paragraph version ]
[this section used to follow the Androgynes Can
Be "Tranny" and Transamorous section:]
There is such a thing as a transsexual androgyne or androgyne
transsexual, but they are transsexual by virtue of GRS (genital
reassignment surgery), not gender identity. One cannot claim to be a man
or woman and still be (an) androgyne. One reason why the terms male-born
and female-born are applied to androgynes is in deference to different
sets of life experience, but another is to differentiate them from
post-operative androgynes, who are not (trans)men and not (trans)women.
Some transsexuals are not actually transsexual but androgyne, yet
because they don't realize nor understand it right away (if ever), they
view androgyny as little more than a distasteful intermediate stage of
transformation, until they discover the underlying androgyne nature
within themselves, which often causes them to reevaluate their situation
to the point of renouncing transition.
Androgynes Can Be "Tranny"
and "Trannychaser
Transamorous" at the Same Time
The transgender community's
At one point, the common nickname for
transgender individuals is
was "tranny," which
mostly refers to TVs (TransVestites) and TSs (TransSexuals), yet also
applies to transgenderists and androgynes but the term has since split, creating a situation where
most people use the term to describe gender variance in general, whereas
TSs (transsexuals) tend to think the term applies only to them.
The T community's (largely derisive) term
for those who are attracted to trannies in the
wider sense is "trannychaser," and it is indeed a problematic
term (especially since it has been theorized that
chasers are transgendered themselves) in that it seems to
imply something akin to "skirtchaser," "ladykiller," "ladies' man," or
other such "womanizer," but it has been euphemized as "admirer." The
trouble is, there is as yet no commonly accepted term as
yet for those who have romantic feelings for transgender
people.,
although the term "transamorous" seems viable.
That said, a The partner of a transgender individual is
referred to as a TGSO (TransGender's Significant Other).
[this paragraph of text is from the deleted Androgynes Have No
"Gender-based Opposite" section:]
It has been observed that since
androgynes do not have a "gender-based opposite,."
they are therefore attracted to each other/one
another. While this may could be generally true, the fact remains that
there are male androgynes, female androgynes, and intersex androgynes,
and among these three groups, there are heterosexuals and asexuals, so
the idea of androgynes being attracted to each other does not necessarily
entail homosexual or bisexual attraction. (In fact,
In light of the fact that many
reincarnational theories hold that souls have no gender,
i.e. (they are neither
male nor female, -- and that's why we reincarnate as
both men and women), --
so it can be argued that mutual attraction between
androgynes is deeply spiritual.)
Interestingly, the this lack of a gender-based opposite frees androgynes to be both
"tranny" and "trannychaser"
(aka "admirer") transamorous
simultaneously. For example, when a male-born
androgyne who doesn't know that sie is androgyne finds hirself attracted
to drag queens and/or M2F (male-to-female)
transsexuals and yet daydreams
of dressing like a woman hirself, the nature of
this attraction situation
can be very frustrating because
drag queens and transsexuals are generally attracted to single-gendered
straight males. The androgyne mistakenly thought
thinks that sie was
is attracted to male-born
TG (transgendered) males
people when, in reality actuality,
sie is not attracted to male-born TGs males
per se but to androgynes like hirself
their androgynous aspects.
In many such cases, it turns out that an
androgyne male is more attracted to androgyne females than to TG males
and/or androgyne males. Some androgyne males are attracted to bisexual
women and identify as "male lesbian" (or "guydyke"). Likewise, there are
androgyne females attracted to bisexual men who identify as "female gay
man" (or "girlfag"). It's not
unusual for an androgyne to confuse a TG's external traits with idealized
internal traits.
Some Transsexuals are Not
Really Transsexual, but Androgyne
[this section has been moved to precede the
Androgynes Can Be "Tranny" and Transamorous section:]
In truth, there are quite a few transsexuals who are androgyne but
don't realize it due to pressure from within themselves and from without
-- in the transsexual community -- that after SRS (Sex Reassignment
Surgery, formerly called a "sex change operation") they are "supposed to
be" heterosexual for the first time in their lives -- since they are now
presumably the sex into which should have been born in the first place.
The fact that some people use the term GRS (Gender Reassignment Surgery)
only complicates matters. (Genital Reassignment Surgery would be a
better use of the three letters). It is important to note that
transsexuals tend to buy into the "binary" categories of man and woman
even more than straight, non-gender-conflicted people do, and that should
serve as a warning to androgynes.
Gender is a Spectrum or
Continuum
[this section was deleted entirely]
In the transgender community, a lot of lip service is given to
gender being a spectrum or a continuum, but in reality, it is little more
than a politically correct thing to say. This is because most
transsexuals (and some transvestites as well) try to avoid contact with
and otherwise invalidate androgynes since they view androgyny as an
intermediate stage in transsexual transitioning and have a dislike for
it. The irony is that androgyny might well be numerically the largest
component of a gender spectrum or continuum (or sphere.
Basically, transgenderists are those who choose to live cross-sex
full time without body modification (SRS or hormones), transsexuals are
those who choose to live cross-sex full time with body modification, and
androgynes are those who choose to live in the "in between" world rather
than "cross-sex" -- and body modification (or lack of body modification)
is irrelevant to the definition. Some androgynes do opt for HRT (Hormone
Replacement Therapy) in order to enhance their otherwise
not-as-androgynous appearance, but they are in the minority.
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[An attempt was made to combine the Some Transsexuals are Not Really
Transsexual, but Androgyne section with the Gender is a Spectrum
or Continuum section, but was ultimately abandoned, due to its length
and lack of concision. The results were interesting, though, and contain
some important ideas that would have been good to have included in the
essay, so they have been presented here for those who might benefit from
them. The final, two-paragraph version is viewable four sections above.]
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Unused Expanded Version of
Some Transsexuals are Not Really Transsexual, but Androgyne
[ compare with final, condensed two-paragraph version ]
There is such a thing as a transsexual androgyne or androgyne
transsexual, but they are transsexual by virtue of GRS (genital
reassignment surgery) or full-time cross-sex living, not gender
identity. One cannot claim to be a man or woman and still be
(an) androgyne, because androgynes are of a third gender: they
are either a combination of the two binary genders or the absence
of both of them. They can't be just one of the two binary
genders.
One reason why the terms male-born and female-born are
applied to androgynes is to recognize the impact of past social
and physical influences. Another is to differentiate them from
post-operative androgynes, who are not (trans)men and not
(trans)women. (Curiously, hijras and two-spirits, both of whom
are of a third gender, refer to themselves as "not men, not
women.")
Transgender activists often describe gender as a spectrum or
continuum (or sphere), but this inclusionary gesture has little
practical effect on most day-to-day relations between non-binary
gender variants and others in the transgender community. This is
because most transsexuals (and some crossdressers) who pursue
assimilation worry about passing. They avoid contact with
androgynes because they view androgyny not as a legitimate gender
but as a distasteful intermediate stage in transsexual
transitioning and are afraid that association with androgynes
could out them.
Androgynes make many transpeople uncomfortable because they
refute the gender binary and the rationale for complete physical
transition. In fact, discovering an underlying androgyne nature
within themselves has caused some transsexuals to reevaluate
their situation to the point of postponing genital reassignment
surgery indefinitely and maybe even suspending their cross-living.
Some androgynes and intersex people don't consider transsexual
transitioning to be the sole solution to gender dysphoria because
they know that man, woman, male, and female aren't the only
valid categories.
[ Return to Top ]
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If You Think You Are Androgyne, You May Well Be
How does one ascertain
do you know whether or not one
is you're androgyne?
It really boils down to what you yourself think. Do you consider
yourself to have masculine character traits and feelings as well as
feminine character traits and feelings to the extent that you feel
repressed if you deny either of these for any extended period of time?
If so, you may well be androgyne. It is a common truism that no one is
entirely masculine or entirely feminine, yet androgynes' feelings of
identity run deeper than this. For them, it is not a vestigial or
incidental overlap of traits, but an inherent, vital component of their
being. There are several online tests for gauging gender identity, but
this site does not endorse them because it has been argued rather
convincingly that the tests are skewed and deeply flawed. Nevertheless,
these tests can be helpful in giving people at least something to go on
in their quest to find themselves.
For female-born androgynes, it is
often difficult to distinguish between "tomboy"
"androgyne,"
"boi," "butch," "genderqueer," and
"F2M" (female-to-male transsexual), "queer," and
"tomboy" because society's taboos
against relatively masculine presentation and/or traits among females have relaxed over the years, as
have injunctions against their wearing
clothing of the opposite sex. When a gender variant female does not
think of hirself as being androgyne, sie may nevertheless be androgyne;
hir reference points and nomenclature come from a different place from that of male-born androgynes.
In truth, androgynes of any sex often do not know of
the term androgyne and so settle for the terms transgender, genderqueer
and/or gender variant. One would
think that there would be more commonality between male-born and
female-born androgynes, but the two groups tend to grow up with different
life experiences and perspectives.
Androgynes May Be the Invisible Majority of the
Transgender World
Androgyne Awareness is Elusive
There are many, many androgyne people in
the world -- many more than anyone currently realizes -- because
they Androgynes are not
easily quantified due to the fact of
the vagueness of the nomenclature: no one seems to be able to agree on
what to call them.,
but the terms genderqueer and non-binary gender variant are gaining prominence.
Although androgynes may prove to be the
invisible majority of the transgender world, they are not acknowledged as
such. Not only are the talk shows unaware of them, but
most androgynes themselves are not aware of who or what they are.
Much has been written and said about people
who want to change their clothes or change their sex
crossdressers and transsexuals, but
very little research has been
conducted on androgynes, who really don't want
to change anything except how they are perceived by the single-gendered
majority.
In a way, androgyny is a double-edged sword. Those born with
androgynous looks -- especially if they are not androgynes -- often wish
that their gender presentation was unambiguous so as to not be teased,
harassed or mistaken for the opposite sex, while androgynes born without
androgynous looks (i.e. psychological androgynes) often wish that their
gender presentation was markedly ambiguous so as to convey outwardly what
they feel inwardly. It amounts to a case of the
metaphorical grass being greener on the other side of the fence, where
psychological androgynes and mono-gendered androgynous folk envy each
other for attributes they do not share. Some fortunate souls, however,
both look and feel androgynous.
Androgynes Are Not Men --
Nor Are They Women
It has been argued 1)
variously that androgynes are not
transgender(ed) in that they do not change their gender but remain the
gender they were born with, 2)
that they are do not transvestites
nor crossdressers in
that unless they
do not dress like the opposite sex but sometimes dress like both sexes
at the same time men or women,
and 3) that if one you
defines androgyne as someone who
identifies as being is half man and half woman, that could be
interpreted as meaning that the person is neither man nor woman since 50%
is an insufficient percentage to define
something either way of one thing
and 50% of another is neither. Curiously,
if one were to combine these three contexts, an androgyne would not be a
man, woman, TV (TransVestite), CD (CrossDresser), TG (TransGender and/or
TransGenderist), nor TS (TransSexual). What they are, however, is
uniquely unified human beings of a sort that has been revered in many
cultures for many centuries. More than 100 Native American tribes
consider(ed) them to be shamans and call them two-spirits.
Are Genderqueers
Androgynes Genderqueer or Two-spirited?
There is the possibility that the term
"genderqueer" might
replace "androgyne."
Like transgender (TG),
genderqueer (GQ) can be an
umbrella term or it can refer to something more specific. Generally,
TG transgender can be said to encompass gender
variantsce from TV
crossdresser to TS transsexual,
or else it can be used as a synonym for TS
transsexual. Similarly, GQ genderqueer
can be said to encompass everything from TV
crossdresser to TS transsexual,
or else it can be used to describe non-binary gender variants specifically.
In contrast, Many argue that androgyne paradoxically plays off reinforces the gender binary by both affirming and refuting it simultaneously
invoking the two polar genders in its very name.
That is why androgynes can be both man and
woman or neither. Genderqueer -- as a term -- however, cannot "have its
cake and eat it, too" in such a fashion. [paragraph break removed] What other non-binary gender variants are out there
besides androgyne, hijra and neutrois? That's a hard question to
answer. Some GQ
genderqueer and gender variant folk
argue say
that there are as many genders as there are people stars
in the sky. In the not-so-distant
future, androgyne could come to be seen as an antiquated term insofar as
it incorporates the Greek and Latin roots for man and woman while
gGenderqueer is
an overtly a
political term which strives to transcend and dismantle the gender binary
both in concept and practice. And yet, androgyne has an inherent
specificity that genderqueer does not because it directly addresses the
man/woman dialectic and could therefore prove to be more durable in the
long run. Non-binary gender variant is more
specific, but it's a mouthful and pre-supposes familiarity with academic
concepts.
The non-native temptation to use the Native-American term two-spirit
(instituted in 1991) is great, but has generally been frowned upon by
Native Americans, even though the term was created in tandem by native
and non-native anthropologists. Historically, most two-spirits (then
referred to indiscriminately as berdaches by non-native anthropologists)
had the gender identity of an androgyne, displayed the gender
presentation of androgyne, and lived in an androgyne gender role, and
some even exhibited androgyny in the remaining component of gender
(gender performance). Maybe sometime in the future, after the term's
misappropriation by the native and non-native gay communities is sorted
out, Native Americans will come to recognize non-native androgynes as
two-spirits, even though the shamanic elements of the term tend not to be
embodied by non-natives.
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