Androgyne
ANDROGYNE
Definition:

A biological condition resulting from hormonal miscues during fetal washing of the brain during gender
identity development. The patient postnatally merges both polar gender identities displaying an assortment
of both masculine and feminine qualities.
Alternative names: third sex; unisex

What is a person who is Androgyne?
A person psychologically, intrinsically and socially intermediate between male and female, displaying physical traits and manifesting a merging of the roles traditionally stereotyped as belonging to male and female. The primary difference between people who are Androgyne and other individuals is that they cannot live life fully as either men or woman because they are intrinsically both genders.

Is there a biological basis for Androgynes?
Yes. The biological basis for the inborn condition stems from an interaction between the developing brain and sex hormones in the first trimester. There is the formation of a gender system within the brain that is fundamental to ultimate gender identity and gender-role development. The person’s development and individual choice accelerates or retards the emergence or degree of characteristics, behaviors or self-expression of their biological capability. People manifest their condition at different stages in their lives ranging from infancy to old age. The genetic and endocrine systems provide a "fertile soil" for environmental influences, thus, biology creates the capacity while nurture and individual choice accelerate the emergence or degree of the condition.

What are the causes?
Biologically, it is the result of the process by which embryos take on sex differences. Androgynes are the result of abnormalities in the male and female sex chromosones and imbalances in hormone washing of the fetal brain. All human embryos develop in the very earliest stages of gestation along more or less feminine lines. Those destined to become males differentiate from the master template after a complex series of hormonal secretions starts to masculinize the embryo. This produces what is called the brain's hardwiring, or subconscious mind. Miscues in this process result in crossed signals in the portions of the brain that are responsible for gender identity. Therefore, the brain develops with the subconscious mind of one biological sex and the body develops with the alternating biological sex. Years later the conflict arises when the brain and body do not agree.

Clinical psychologists hypothesize that the psyche of all men and women are innately androgyne (i.e., having the characteristics of both genders). The Jungian contention is that every human being is, in essence, a psychological androgyne, and much of the individuation process consists in making this androgyne explicit or conscious. Through cultural processes, however, most boys grow up to be fully "masculine" men and most women mature into fully "feminine" women. According to this hypothesis, these people reconcile the "residue" of their opposite gender traits through a variety of "acceptable" means. However, for people who are Androgyne, this residue is significant with strong characteristics which are manifested to varying degrees.

What is the sexual orientation of person who is Androgyne?
Sexual identity, sexual orientation and gender identity are independent of each other, thus a person who is Androgyne can be at any place on the sexuality spectrum as in any other part of society. The internal integration of a person who is Androgyne does not imply overt changes in one's physical [e.g. sexual] characteristics. Although sexuality and identity are intimately interwoven, the confusion arises where the condition is equated with sexual orientation. The fact of the matter is that the condition refers to one's gender condition as opposed to sexual orientation. The interchanging of the condition and sexual terms leads to confusion.

What does a person who is Androgyne look like?
Biologically speaking, a person who is Androgyne blends traits of both of the accepted polar sexes sometimes displaying an appearance that resembles more closely one of those sexes. Individuals merge characteristics in subtle ways with variations on presentation and social role, the details varying dramatically from person to person. They have an assortment of both masculine and feminine qualities, usually including features of stereotyped, culturally-sanctioned roles, performative aspects, attributes, and/or behaviors expected of or considered appropriate for both genders. Both genders are natural to the expression of a person who is Androgyne, yet permanent polarization in either direction would likely bring significant unhappiness. Individuals who alter their secondary sex characteristics (genetically transmitted anatomical, physiological, or behavioral characteristics that first appear in humans at puberty and differentiate between the sexes without having a direct reproductive function) may not self-identify as Androgyne. An individual may accept the identification of Androgyne as consistency and permanency develops. Some people find a partial physical transformation of value, however, extreme actions regarding these issues are predominently viewed with great caution.

Treatment
Current medical/psychological practice considers the Androgyne from the viewpoints of its sociobiological context (its relationship to the overall functioning of individual in their social contexts), measuring the effectiveness of diagnosis and treatment through outcomes expressed as improvements in the patient's quality of life and treating each patient according to their individual need rather than by a standard, prescriptive regimen of healthcare. There are a variety of sex and gender identity tests designed to measure both the mental, or brain sex of an individual, and the social gender conditioning that an individual has absorbed (the combined effect of nature plus nurture). These multifaceted tests oftentimes help individuals who are Androgyne understand themselves.

Some common misconceptions about Androgyne:
» A prevalent mistake without any factual or scientific support is the idea that there exist two separate and "opposite" genders, masculinity and femininity. Apart from the biological male and female functions of breeding, the terms masculine and feminine are culturally-based ideas and not related to biology. A person who is Androgyne (sometimes called the third sex) chooses to live outside of socially prescribed gender roles, thus are "socially intermediate between male and female". Intellectual and psychological adjustment, influences, role models, personal social environment, hormonal experience, anatomical variation, and even variations in one's personal sensuality play important parts in facilitating one's preference to take on the combination of traits, roles and attributes of male and female gender.
» Despite prevalent beliefs, people who are Andrognye do not have gender identity dysphoria (clinically diagnosed depression caused by the sex or sexual identity that one is born with) and do not necessarily have difficulties with their gender identities after identification and self-acceptance.
» People who are Androgyne rarely consider themselves to be members of the transgendered community.


RELATED INFORMATION:
Biological Determination of Gender
Biological Differences Between Genders
Differentiating Between Sex and Gender
Science and the Gender System

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