In the past few years, androgyny has been phasing in the mainstream culture as many things: the fashion trend, the minority representation and the gender equality empowerment support, along with others unmentioned. Although arguably as its own subculture, rather than being a concept within various subcultures that is continuously borrowed and evolved to support different ideologies, androgyny has survived decades of ever-changing sociocultural norms. Despite the fact that androgyny itself has not been known as is as much as the many “aliases” that it has accommodate to send across its message, it is still inviolable of the essence of its meaning. Therefore, this essay aims to define androgyny and how its existence in the midst of both Western …show more content…
As a vernacular, androgyny can be understood in two – relative – ways, as the idea of possessing both male and female characteristics; and as a combination of both male and female physical and essentially a unique individual of ambiguous nature. The word “androgyny” itself is originated from the Greek vocabulary “andros” for man and “gyne” for woman. In this classical sense, androgyny then refers to the individual who exhibits both feminine and masculine traits side by side (Treblicot, 1982). Despite the varying understanding of androgyny, all of these ideas essentially highlight the same concept, that is the existence of an unorthodox combined gender-category, and is seen as an “escape from the prison of gender” (Warren, 1982). Gender itself is an identity classification that one can argue is influenced by historical, social and cultural value, rather than biological anatomy (Clare Moynihan, 1998). As such, unlike biological sex, androgyny as a gender category offers more flexibility and open-ended adaptation to individual identity …show more content…
Androgyny has, more often than not, played a significant role in supporting a certain agenda in subcultures and mainstream cultures – mostly related to gender bending and justification to adopting an opposing trait to a feminine/masculine sex. Contemporarily, it feeds to the fashion industry to provide ease (especially for women more so than men) of androgynous dressing to uphold the grounds of gender equality and feminism (Oriole Cullen, 2015). However, in reality, contemporary “androgyny has been commodified by fashion, and hijacked by sex. Neither industry is exploring why aesthetic or sexual liberation does good for the well being - areas like self esteem, flexibility, and of course empathy” (Natasia Niedinger, 2015). The cold hard truth is that in the present times, androgyny is less representative for men as much as it empowers and benefits women community (Oriole Cullen, 2015). Unlike in the 80s, where the creative and innovative aspect of androgyny was less about physical representation, but more on the psychologically challenging of the gender role stereotypes – despite the more superficial and shocking physical representation – (Kauffman, 2013), the current androgyny portrayed in the media and understood by many is still othering its male counterpart. It is more easily and socially acceptable for women to adopt androgynous looks (Oriole Cullen,
The reading assigned titled “The Socially Constructed Body” by Judith Lorber and Yancey Martin dives into the sociology of gender with a specific focus on how the male and female body is compromised by social ideals in the Western culture. She introduces the phenomenon of body ideals pressed on men and women by introducing the shift in cosmetic surgery toward body modifications.
“Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls”: few of our cultural mythologies seem as natural as this one. But in this exploration of the gender signals that traditionally tell what a “boy” or “girl” is supposed to look and act like, Aaron Devor shows how these signals are not “natural” at all but instead are cultural constructs. While the classic cues of masculinity—aggressive posture, self-confidence, a tough appearance—and the traditional signs of femininity—gentleness, passivity, strong nurturing instincts—are often considered “normal,” Devor explains that they are by no means biological or psychological necessities. Indeed, he suggests, they can be richly mixed and varied, or to paraphrase the old Kinks song “Lola,” “Boys can be girls and girls can be boys.” Devor is dean of social sciences at the University of Victoria and author of Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality (1989), from which this selection is excerpted, and FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society (1997).
In “ The Appeal of an Androgynous Man” an article written by Amy Gross, she compares the characteristics of the masculine brute, to the humble androgynous man. An androgynous man is a man who possesses qualities of both genders. For example, an androgynous man would still have manly traits, but would also be more feminine than other males. In her essay, Gross claims that the androgynous man possesses closely similar traits, in comparison to herself. Gross finds it more difficult to communicate with masculine men than androgynous men, simply for the reason that androgynous men are more sensitive and compassionate.
In this article, Shaw and Lee describe how the action of labels on being “feminine” or “masculine” affect society. Shaw and Lee describe how gender is, “the social organization of sexual difference” (124). In biology gender is what sex a person is and in culture gender is how a person should act and portray themselves. They mention how gender is what we were taught to do in our daily lives from a young age so that it can become natural(Shaw, Lee 126). They speak on the process of gender socialization that teaches us how to act and think in accordance to what sex a person is. Shaw and Lee state that many people identify themselves as being transgendered, which involves a person, “resisting the social construction of gender into two distinct, categories, masculinity and femininity and working to break down these constraining and polarized categories” ( 129). They write about how in mainstream America masculinity and femininity are described with the masculine trait being the more dominant of the two. They define how this contributes to putting a higher value of one gender over the other gender called gender ranking (Shaw, Lee 137). They also speak about how in order for femininity to be viewed that other systems of inequality also need to be looked at first(Shaw,Lee 139).
Some of society today has luckily overcome the definitions of men and women, allowing people to form their own identities, but this is not without much conflict. Women experienced a great deal conflict to be seen as equals to men in the workplace. Homosexuals have stepped out of society’s gender expectations, producing their own controversies and disagreements. The traditional gender roles of “Shiloh” and “Boys and Girls” are from the past, and many steps have been made past them, but society still holds on tight to portions of those established ways. Still, conflict will always occur where ideas diverge.
Gender, in society today, is clarified as either being male which embodies traits of masculinity or on the other hand being female embodying traits of femininity. However the embodiment of these traits are just actions, decisions, or expressions rather than sexual anatomical features we are born and constrained by. Gender depictions are less a consequence of our "essential sexual natures" than interactional portrayals of what we would like to convey about sexual natures, using conventionalized gestures. (West, Zimmerman p.130) This excerpt reinforces the idea that society should view gender not as a absolute but rather a work in progress during your day to day routine. This capability to accept that gender is something you do rather than something that is leads opens up the tolerance to realize the implications that traditional gender views have impacted
Gender refers to psychological and emotional characteristics that cause people to assume, masculine, feminine or androgynous (having a combination of both feminine and masculine traits) roles. Your gender is learned and socially reinforced by others, as well as by your life experiences and g...
Psychological androgyny means that one individual can be masculine and feminine at the same time. In certain situations, a person can be assertive, independent and emotional or concerned of the welfare of others (Bem & Martyna, 1976). They also found that college students had more nontraditional responses, meaning that they did not necessarily stick to traditional gender role expectations, and women reported less traditional responses regardless of whether they were among the college group or non-college group. ...
The sex and gender binary is a socially-constructed classification of sex and gender into two distinct and biological forms of masculine and feminine. The binary is a restricting concept that enforces the ideology that solely two genders exist—it is a social boundary that limits people from exploring gender identity or mixing it up (Larkin, 2016). As Mann depicts it, the binary constrains us to take on one gender identity, and to follow through with the expected roles assigned to that gender. The implications are that it compels people to fit into the binary and follow the patriarchal, heteronormative traditions of society (Mann, 2012). However, the binary was not always so clear-cut, but certain concepts from scientific research such as the
Susan Visvanathan states, “Androgyny means overcoming the cultural parameters defining a man or a woman, and raising the issue of common humanity. Work then is defined in terms of ability and interest, and the distinctions between men’s work and women’s work would at once be devalued. Androgyny, then is about fearlessness, and role choices which are not biologically defined”(Visvanathan 3015). This idea of androgyny that is highlighted by Visvanathan discusses this idea of a “common humanity” and the combination of gender roles between males and females. This idea of equality is important to explore because it really defines the relationship between a men and women, and how that affects their lives.
Gender identity has been a delicate issue when it comes to determining if a person's gender is set at birth or develops and changes as a person ages. A person’s gender is not as simple as being classified as either male or female. There’s a considerable amount of external factors that can influence someone’s identity. Although society has a major role in gender identity, sex assignment at birth is not final; furthermore, a person's gender can be influenced by psychological, physiological differences and undergoing changes to the human body. A common misconception many people believe is that gender and gender are the same or go hand in hand with one another.
In order to grasp the concept of social construction of gender, it is essential to understand the difference between sex and gender. Biologically, there are only two reproductive genital organs that are determinants of sex: the vagina and the penis. Sex is established solely through biological structures; in other words, genitalia are the basis of sex. Once a sex category is determined, gender, a human categorization socially attached to sex, is assigned based on anatomy. Gender typically references social or cultural differen...
Society has planted a representation into people’s minds on how each gender is supposed to be constructed. When one thinks of the word gender, the initial responses are male and female but gender may be represented in many additional terms. As defined, “Gender refers to the social expectations that surround these biological categories.” (Steckley, 2017, pg.256) Gender is something that is ascribed,
Throughout Western civilization, culturally hegemonic views on gender and sexuality have upheld a rigid and monolithic societal structure, resulting in the marginalization and dehumanization of millions of individuals who differ from the expected norm. Whether they are ridiculed as freaks, persecuted as blasphemers, or discriminated as sub-human, these individuals have been historically treated as invisible and pushed into vulnerable positions, resulting in cycles of poverty and oppression that remain prevalent even in modern times. Today, while many of these individuals are not publicly displayed as freaks or persecuted under Western law, women, queer, and intersexed persons within our society still nonetheless find themselves under constant
Identities are an important part of the human experience. One of the many identities that creates a person is gender. Society, being the entity establishing social norms and social roles, plays a part in effecting the individual’s gender, and how they choose to express themself. The underlying or overlying identities also have the same effect. Gender is not only an identity, it is a lifestyle inside and out. Gender, like race, class, and sexuality; is not limited to the binary scale, and that is normal, natural, and human. The concept of gender is man-made, but it forces one’s hand to analyze the thought processes behind an individual's perception on gender through self, through society, or through the dichotomy and/or correspondence of the