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, 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 that it lacks rigid gender roles 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 Some famous people known for their androgynous appearances include Grace Jones, Marlene Dietrich, David Bowie, Boy George, Annie Lennox, and Phranc.

In Hinduism, Ardhanari or Ardhanareshvara, is an androgynous deity composed of Shiva and his consort Shakti, representing the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies. The Ardhanari form also illustrates how the female principle of God, Shakti is inseperable from the male principle of God, Shiva. Ardhanari in iconography is depicted as half-male and half-female, split down the middle
The term 'Ardhanarishvara' is a combination of three words- 'ardha', 'nari' and 'ishvara', meaning respectively, 'half', 'woman' and 'Lord' or 'God', that is, Ardhanarishvara is the Lord whose half is woman, or who is half woman. Some scholars interpret the term as meaning 'the half male' who is Shiva and 'the half female' who is Parvati. Such interpretations are suggestive of 'dveta', the duality of existence, and thus contradict the Vedic stand in the matter. Such contentions also contradict the Shaiva philosophy of 'adveta', which is very emphatic in its assertion that He alone is the cause of the entire existence, as it is by His will and out of Him that the cosmos came into being. In the Shaivite hymn- Ekohum bahusyami (Shiva Purana), that is, I am One, but wishes to be many, there echoes the Rigvedic perception of the single egg splitting into 'Bhuta' and 'Prana'. Otherwise also, the Vedas widely favor the principle of monogenic existence. Besides its emphasis on the unity of the outward duality, the Rigveda acclaims, 'He, who is described as male, is as much the female and the penetrating eye does not fail to see it'. The Rigvedic assertion is explicitly defined. The male is only so much male as much he is female and vice versa the female is only as much female as much she is male. The maleness and femaleness are the attributes contained in one frame.

One strategy to overcome this gender dualism is the idea of androgyny, by which masculinity and femininity are not conceived as opposite ends of one spectrum, but as two separate spectrums: you can be or have both at once (or neither), not only the one or the other. Thus, you can combine the various components of masculinity and femininity in any number of ways, according to your individual preferences, needs and nature. Should we then strive for an androgynous, individualist, highly diverse culture?

Some people think that the androgyny concept doesn't go far enough; because androgyny still reproduces elements of the old false split of femininity and masculinity, it should be abandoned. What we need is not to construct combinations of two false concepts, but to go back to - and forward to - a situation with no split in the first place, a place without a gender dichotomy. The point must be made that keeping the masculine and the feminine apart and separate is what is difficult and unnatural, while keeping them together is simple and natural. We must thus move beyond androgyny, in order to overcome the cultural and social schizophrenia of gender dualism.

The gender dichotomy must be healed and sealed: people must be free to develop their own unique identity. In philosophy, the method, or method research orientation most often and most efficiently used to overcome ("transcend") dualism is dialectics. Chris Sciabarra has suggested this definition of dialectics: Dialectics is a methodological-research orientation whose distinguishing characteristic is an emphasis on contextuality in the analysis of systemic and dynamic relations within totalities (i.e., organic unities). Thus, dialectics is a way to consider the issue in question both structurally and dynamically, as a whole, but changing and developing system, a way of exploring the developments and shifting relationships of a great many interacting factors, never losing track of the whole context of the system - always considering the full context, both analyzing the parts themselves and considering their relative place to each other and within the totality. Which is exactly what needs to be done with the splintered, arbitrary chaos of the gender concepts.

So, I'm interested in anything that blurs, transforms or recreates gender, puts a new perspective on gender, or just any weird ideas or expressions of gender. You may thus conclude that I want to deconstruct gender - but that is at best a half-truth, because I'm even more interested in reconstructing gender. Or, more precisely: I'm interested the deconstruction of the current arbitrary and collectivist gender bi-polarization ideology, thus opening the path for reconstruction(s) of gender, in the form of 5 billion or more unique gender identitities. And I'm collecting links to all kind of stuff about this, and that's what this page is about. You'll find the links below. I provide a growing and shifting context of elements; you'll have to evaluate and integrate them yourselves. You must be your own gender dialectician. And if you come up with something new, insightful, creative, weird or otherwise interesting, let me know.

Tags: androgyny