An androgynous future

Lillian Lynch, a senior from Windsor High School uniquely reflects on the importance of androgyny as a mindset. She delves deep into experiences in which she was encouraged to explore androgynous possibilities in all aspects of life and describes the benefits of challenging her previous mindset. Lynch is very active in the environmental movement and passionate about gender equality.

For the past few centuries we have been living in an era of masculine energy, a patriarchy of both negative and positive connotations. This is characterized by individualism, personal efforts towards success, a lack of emotional responsiveness, and emphasis on the external rather than internal.

However, we have now entered into an age of the divine feminine in which community efforts, emotional connectivity, and empathy are at a heightened state. Neither age is better nor worse than the other, just different. As we acknowledge and embrace both, we must consider imbalance as well. If Earth is comprised of unstable shifts between masculine and feminine, imbalance will forever play a role in terrestrial conflicts. Instead, as each individual balances both the masculine and feminine within themself, the entire world will shift in response towards greater balance and symbiotic sharing of roles.

Sure, but how does this new age gloss relate to a future of androgyny?

Gender is melting. It is shifting away from restrictive roles and predetermined guidelines, turning more towards fluidity and personal expression. It is no longer defined by strict gender roles but by an individual’s personal identification with their sex-- both biological and psychological. On a human development level, as our bodies age, we already become less and less gender specific-- our bodies revert to a more androgynous state of being. Women often begin to grow light facial hair and both genders begin the process of going gray. As the sex of our bodies becomes more ambiguous with the years, so do the roles and restrictions that come with gender identification.

I remember the first time that I truly began to consider what the actual differences between men and women are. Last year, I attended a discussion on how the female life cycle connects to moon phases. Now, having spent the majority of the year in a yoga class talking about yogic ideas like chakras, mind-over-matter philosophies, and the acting energies of the body, this somewhat bohemian topic of discussion did not phase me. Gathered in the room were about five or six young women, listening to someone talk about femininity in nature. The speaker explained how the female menstrual and overall life cycle matched so clearly with phases of the moon. While not an accurate science, this discussion held real value. I had never thought of gender as possibly connecting so much with natural elements, and considered both the masculine and feminine that is inherently at balance in nature. I began to consider the nature of the female and male counterparts: what defines gender and can we experience both male and female energy?

Once again, my mental schema of gender was questioned. At some point in my yoga class, my teacher brought up the topic of feminine and masculine energy-- explaining how one side of the brain is more female, the other more masculine. My teacher identified how we could balance these two energies through meditation and breathing exercises while also addressing which activities appeal to both energies. She said nurturing activities like baths-- and your other basic self-care rituals-- were more feminine in nature, while high-activity tasks like intense exercise were more masculine in nature. The class, myself included, met this idea with a lot of suspicion, having been conditioned to think of gender as something innate, something set and not fluid. However, gender is much more than a word or the set of values that come with it. It instead reflects a yin-yang type of nature. Everyone holds both the masculine and feminine-- in their minds and bodies-- and must strive to find balance between the two. Gender is merely a point of societal identification to easily attach individuals to certain categories. Gender is whatever you want it to be-- everything or nothing at all.

Humans have been living in an imbalance of extreme gender expression. You are either male or female. You are either are an ambitious, career-driven individual or a passive home-body. You are either a “man’s man” or a “girly girl.” You are either macho and self-reliant, or submissive and dependent on men. These polar opposites have lead to repressed fluid gender expression, the oppression of women and LGBTQ members, and constant torment between opposing genders. However, your gender identification can be whatever you want it to be, you can express yourself however you want. As I began reevaluating my definition of gender, I remember one passage from Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own that changed my entire outlook and caused me to reflect on the beauty of androgyny:

“It is when this fusion takes place that the mind is fully fertilized and uses all its faculties. Perhaps a mind that is purely masculine cannot create, any more than a mind that is purely feminine, I thought… Coleridge… meant, perhaps, that the androgynous mind is resonant and porous; that it transmits emotion without impediment; that it is naturally creative, incandescent and undivided.”

Woolf, in this book-long essay, delves into what environment is the most beneficial for a striving artist-- specifically writers. Throughout her thesis she repeats the value of having a quiet space, a personal area of one’s own, to being key to literary success and boundless creativity. She strictly adheres to this idea, but towards the end explores the idea of androgyny. She cites Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s notion that a great mind is one comprised of a balance of both male and female: an androgynous mind. She attaches androgyny to the key to success to a creative being, having herself experienced the mental imbalances between her male and female energy. I remember reading this, having never even questioned gender or thought about androgyny, and was amazed that this woman, confined to the strict gender practices of the 20th century, was able to clearly and distinctly recite the benefits of androgyny. I suddenly felt close-minded. I felt like I had betrayed myself in confining to gender ideals and had not even considered exploring the opposite or the balance of the two. I thought that as a female of the 21st century I was already fully liberated and had no need to question gender further; I looked on women of the past with pity and remorse. However, Virginia Woolf pointed out this Gen-Z self-righteousness I held, asking me to be open to gender fluidity and even promote the idea of androgyny.

I began to explore how I could become a being with an “androgynous mind.” Through my yoga practice-- a more masculine activity-- I try to balance that action with both a vinyasa flow, following with a meditation-- a more quiet, reflective, feminine time. I am constantly questioning the gender restrictions I have adhered to and attached others to. I recently saw a post in which a girl was judging another for whatever she was wearing but then questioned that action; the comment below that said that our first response to judge is what we have been conditioned to, the second thought is what we truly feel. This applies to all sorts of questioning of society but has stuck with me as clearly applying to gender. If I judge someone for not being “ladylike,” I have found myself following up with a thought of more open-mindedness, questioning the nature of what it means to be “ladylike” itself. I am asking you do the same.

Question gender roles and restrictions. Question yourself, others, and society as a whole. Strive towards balance of the masculine and feminine with all that you do. Work towards an androgynous mind as that will open up the doors to boundless expression and discussion. Do not confine yourself as centuries of gender roles have confined our ancestors. Be open to the new androgynous future.

To paraphrase the forever-fabulous David Bowie, no matter where your gender expression lies, you are “an instant star. Just add water and stir.”