Androgyne is a gender identity in which a person has a gender identity that can be a blend of both or neither of the binary genders. They may describe this as being between female and male, between man and woman, between masculine and feminine or simply 'in between.' They can also identify as neither feminine or masculine, or neither female nor male.[1][2]
Etymology
The word androgyne is derived from Latin from Greek, andras- "man" + gune "woman", pronounced AN-druh-jin, IPA: ˈan-dɹə-ˌdʒīn, this literally meaning man-woman. There have been instances of people using the term bisexual to refer to androgynes, androgynous people, or intersex people. An example of the use of this word, found in pop culture, is in the 50th episode of the 2nd season of Star Trek, "The Trouble with Tribbles", where Dr. McCoy refers to the tribbles (an alien species) as bisexual.[3]
Community
Some people who call themselves androgynes identify with androgyny as a gender presentation, or have or wish to obtain an androgynous, 'in between', or neutral body, others see this as only a matter of gender identity and may express their androgynous gender through their personality or activities such as crossdressing. Some, but not all, androgynes experience gender dysphoria. As such, people might not relate to their sex assigned at birth, or find discomfort when others make assumptions regarding their gender or assigned pronouns. They may seek gender transition to achieve a more neutral appearing body.
They can use any form of pronouns or neopronouns they like, even switching between pronouns (she/her, zhe/zhim) if desired, but most commonly she/her and he/him tend to be used together interchangeably.
History
Historically, an androgyne has been a word for an intersex person, and this use of that word is not completely obsolete. However, the sex of a person's body is different than their gender identity. Intersex is a physical sex, and androgyne can mean either that, or a gender identity.[4] The first instance of the term being used in a gendering light was in 1918, when Jennie June published Autobiography of an Androgyne[5], which has since been described as "a centerpiece for queer, trans, and gender studies of twentieth-century America". [1]
Flags and Symbols
The most common Androgyne Pride Flag
An alternative Androgyne pride flag
The Necker Cube symbol
The most common androgyne flag has 3 colours. The pink represents femininity, the blue represents masculinity and the purple represents a combination of the both. Whilst non binary, androgyne is more binary attached identity than others, thus the black and white of the alternative flag. It weaves between man and woman comfortably, and works in suitable harmony. The blue represents masculinity, the pink represents femininity. The purple represents a comfortable blending of masculinity and femininity to make the unique identity that androgyne is. It also represents androgyne being a non binary identity.[6]
The Necker Cube[7] is an optical illusion that can look both concave and convex, first proposed as a symbol for the androgyne community by Raphael Carter in 1996[8]. It is a simple wire-frame, two dimensional drawing of a cube with no visual cues as to its orientation, so it can be interpreted to have either the lower-left or the upper-right square as its front side. For the androgyne community, the Necker Cube is symbolic of the androgynous individual’s physical ambiguity. It is used as an adjusted form of the Necker Cube with a smaller square in the centre, as focusing on this square may allow the brain to break out of its cycle between two ‘equally possible interchangeable stable states’ and see the image for what it is; a two dimensional drawing which is neither of the interpreted cubes. Thus the androgyny symbol is itself an example of something that can be taken as one of two binary options or as something else entirely.[9]
Distinctions
Bigender
Whilst bigender is a gender identity in which a person has or experiences two any co-existing genders, androgyne is a mix of the binary genders. Bigender people have two genders, and these can be any two genders (including androgyne), but androgyne is one gender described as a blend of the two binary genders.[10]
Neutrois
Neutrois is a gender identity with a strong emphasis on gender neutrality. Neutrois is an abinary gender, whilst androgyne is on the binary. A better way to describe this is like two pots of paint. Neutrois is a more grey or brown colour that has never been associated with the binary or non-binary genders, but androgyne is a mix of blue and pink (the most common binary colours) as one purple colour of paint. There do not have to be equal portions of blue and pink, but they are both still binary colours in the pot.[11][12]
Media
- Switch from The Matrix is described by the Wachowski sisters as a "beautiful androgyne"[13] in the original script and was originally intended to be played by two different actors, one inside the Matrix and another in the real world. Warner BrothersTM cut this particular idea, leaving actress Belinda McClory to play both roles.
References
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