Monday, August 31, 2009

Androgyny

is a term derived from the Greek words (anér, meaning man) and (gyné, meaning woman) that can refer to either of two related concepts about gender: the mixing of masculine and feminine characteristics, as in fashion statements.

Many androgynes identify as being mentally "between" woman and man, or as entirely genderless. They may class themselves as non-gendered, genderneutral, agendered, between genders, intergendered, bigendered, or genderfluid.

Androgyne was once used as a synonym for hermaphrodite, a term since replaced by the word intersex.

Traits:

Androgynous traits are those that either have no gender value, or have some aspects generally attributed to the opposite gender. Physiological androgyny (compare intersex), which deals 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.

Many musical movements have embraced an androgynous theme. For example, the genres of glam rock, new wave, goth rock, and no wave often feature male acts sporting an androgynous look.
Androgynous characters are readily apparent in anime and manga, possibly due to the concept of beautifully feminine boys known as bishōnen.

No comments:

Post a Comment