Example of Androgyny and Androgynous Gender Expression
An example of androgyny is David Bowie, Boy George or Tilda Swinton. They both balance masculine and feminine characteristics, and you cannot immediately confirm their gender identity as they use male and female characteristics in how they look.
This balance between male and female characteristics is one of the best example of androgyny and gender expression in pop culture.
Andro refers to men and Gyn is a root that can be used as either a suffix or prefix meaning woman. Taht is where the term androgyny or androgynous person comes from!
Androgynous Fashion vs Physical Androgyny
Androgyny refers to blending masculine and feminine traits but how does this come into gender identity and sexual orientation?
In short, it doesn’t. Androgyny refers to simply balancing masculine and feminine traits and an androgynous person may have female reproductive organs and feel female all of the time. Androgynous gender presentations don’t always change personality traits with many androgynous individuals living as cisgender members of society.
Androgynous fashion is an example of androgyny where an androgynous person will subvert traditional gender norms in a way that captures the mood of the shoot or runway. This has nothing to do with biological sex.
Many androgynous people would just like to appreciate greater gender diversity or express gender fluidity in their fashion choices. These positive characteristics may be an alter ego or a direct mirror of their own gender fluidity internally.
Female Characteristics with Masculine Traits
For some women who look traditionally masculine, the physical traits and word androgynous are just a way to subvert traditional masculinity in a form of masculinity femininity.
The subversion of sex roles is something androgyny stems from but the inherent association with a strong desire to be either male or female depending on your gender at birth, is one of the aspects of these blurred lines so many people fixate on.
It’s these exact conversations in gender studies that people want you to have. Androgyny doesn’t want to fit neatly in any box and any other aspects that have gained more prominence with the rise of LGBTQ+ rights are just further examples of why people choose to present androgynously.
Biological Sex and Gender Fluidity with Androgynous People
Gender is so incredibly complicated and a persons gender can only be defined by themselves. For some people gender is a spectrum and can change on a daily basis whereas for others, they feel like the gender they were born with and haven’t given their gender a second thought.
When it comes to androgyny and gender, when you’re androgynous, it could just be self expression. Looking androgynous doesn’t need to have anything to do with your biological sex or gender. Instead, androgyny can be a fashion choice, statement, or just how you feel that day.
For some people, being androgynous does reflect their gender and that’s okay too! At the end of the day, you can be androgynous however you choose.
The Bem Sex Role Inventory
In order to research gender, the BSRI was created to study masculine and feminine traits. Since androgyny mixes masculinity with feminine traits, it is a very interesting study for androgynous people.
Most of the people who have done the BSRI have behaved how any person would expect them to with femininity supporting traditional feminine roles and male or masculine qualities being reflected by the male persons taking the test.
In the BSRI, androgyny refers to a score that supports equal masculine and feminine points. An androgynous person would in theory, score as neither feminine or masculine and instead, get an androgynous score near the median.
Of course, this is not how androgyny presents and gender cannot be put into a quiz. Due to living in a patriarchy, the results would be biased for each person as male subjects would have a different view to the women, meaning women are often more pressured to go by gender roles and have a lower self esteem when subverting those gender roles due to society.
Greek Mythology and the Androgynous Person
The term hermaphrodite has come from Greek mythology and for a long time, has been used wrongfully to describe people who present as neither male or female. If you don’t fit into societal expectations of male or female and masculinity and femininity, society often begins to question your mental health.
An interesting concept more people need to be aware of is psychological androgyny. Psychological androgyny refers to the concept that males and females can have both male and female characteristics. You can seamlessly balance masculinity and femininity in one person, yet still be an example of a cisgender, straight person.
These traits and this concept of these traits being able to be mixed in one person is a brilliant example of how the gender binary isn’t as straightforward as cisgender people often believe.
Choose Taimi to Meet Every Sexual Orientation and People with Masculine and Feminine Characteristics
If you choose to balance both your masculine and feminine qualities or you’re looking for androgynous individuals and people who reverse gender roles, Taimi is the place for you! Regardless of you gender presentation, Taimi welcomes male and female people, people who describe their own gender, and people who subvert traditional gender roles.
Get ready to enjoy challenging societal expectations with guys, girls, and gender fluid people with Taimi today!
