Androgyny – The Fad that won’t DIE!!!

Let me preface this with the statement that I am NOT homophobic. I accept men and women on the basis of who they are and how they act (as in friendly or not) independent of their sexual orientation. I know many straight people whom I DISLIKE because they’re jerks, and I know many gay people who I LIKE because they’re good people. Having said that, androgyny makes me angry.

The other day, I was at the light-rail waiting for the train, and I saw a person across the way. I then proceeded to have a 5 minute internal monologue as to whether or not I was indeed looking at a genetic man or woman. This seems wrong to me. If a typical observer is unable to assess your genetic sex within about ten second of looking at you, then you need to reconsider how you decide to present yourself to the world. I mean, the dating scene is confusing enough without the added element of complication of being unable to determine a person’s sex, and I’ve noted that some of the androgynous people in question are frustrated by the quandary that they themselves create and perpetuate.

For example, I once knew this girl. For anonymity’s sake, we’ll simply call her “C.” She was genetically a woman, and she was a lesbian. Here are a list of her habits that lent themselves to her frustration: she went by her rather masculine last name (even though her first name was quite feminine in comparison), she had buzz-cut length hair, she was on reserve in the army, so she constantly wore camouflage clothes (whether in a professional or social setting), she never wore any type of discernable make-up, she had a deep vocal register, she wore baggy clothing to conceal her breasts, and (since she was a lesbian) she was always seen hugging and kissing on her girlfriend who was more in touch with and advertising of her feminine traits. To sum up, “C” had many masculine traits and was always seen as being physically intimate with another (feminine-looking) woman. I defy ANY impartial observer NOT to come to the inevitable conclusion that “C” was in fact genetically a man based upon the given evidence. Regardless of all of these facts, none of the things that I have mentioned are really that important in and of themselves, but here’s the wrinkle: “C” would always get VERY irate that nobody could tell that “she” was a “she” upon first meeting her. THAT is what always drove me insane!

If you remove all elements of femininity from your outward appearance, you have forfeited the right to complain that people assume that you’re a guy because on some level (conscious or otherwise) you’re advertising to the rest of the world that THAT is what you WANT them to think.  I say that we stop trying to hide our genders, enough with the “Metro-Sexuals” and the “Butch-Lesbians.” Sexual preference should be independent of what gender we look like. Women and men (whether heterosexual or homosexual) should be comfortable enough in their own skin to LOOK as the gender that they were born into being. Nothing need be sacrificed by doing this. We should celebrate our genders and the differences between them. It’s as Giacomo Casanova said “It is only necessary to have courage, for strength without self-confidence is useless.”