Androgyny

If referring to a flower, see disambiguation under bisexual

Androgyny refers to two concepts. The first is the mixing of masculine and feminine characteristics, be it for example in the loud fashion statements of musicians like Ziggy Stardust or the balance of "anima" and "animus" in Jungian psychoanalytic theory. Secondly it describes something that is neither masculine nor feminine, for example the Hijras of India who are often described as "neither man nor woman".

Androgynous traits are those that either have no gender value, or have some aspects generally attributed to the opposite gender. Physiological androgyny (compare intersex), dealing with physical traits, is distinct from behavioral androgyny which deals with personal and social anomalies in gender, and from psychological androgyny, which is a matter of gender identity. A psychologically androgynous person is commonly known as an androgyne, although there is a politicized version known as genderqueer.

To say that a culture or relationship is androgynous is to say it lacks rigid gender roles and the people involved display both masculine and feminine characteristics or partake in both masculine and feminine activities. 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 or transgender or two-spirit status of people.

The morpheme andr- means 'man', and the morpheme -gyn- means 'woman', derived from Greek.

Gender roles are the different social roles of men and women, which vary with changes in culture. It's important to understand the difference between social characteristics of gender and separate these from sexual physiology and sexual behaviours. - As people gradually became aware of their facility for self-determination and gender, the established roles within society began to be tested with this newfound concept of self.

References:

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

See also

• List of transgender-related topics
• Bem Sex Role Inventory

Also a Greek Myth: Myth of the Androgyny

External links

• Sandra Bem and androgyny
• Androgyne Online
• Androgyny Rarely Asked Questions