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Adornment and Modification

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Voluntary alteration serves many purposes from cultural differentiation to status seeking to simple individual expression. Explore fashionistas, indigenous body rituals, clowns, court jesters and overstyled adolescents.

 

Before And After Difference

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Gender difference waxes and wanes during the course of the human lifecycle just as it has throughout the course of human evolution. Explore prehistoric man, babies, the elderly, ghosts and mummies.

 

Beyond Procreation

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The preservation of species is only a consideration for those who are immortal. Those who don’t need to worry about mortality often assume an air of asexuality since procreation is not one of their daily concerns.

 

Confusion of Advanced Scrutiny

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Androgyny sometimes creeps into the fabric of society completely without notice. Rediscover some of your most beloved animated characters and real live individuals as the androgynes they really are.

 

Cultural Pioneers

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Those who challenge social, cultural, artistic and political convention often adopt visual styles which challenge traditional gender roles. Members of this vanguard have made gender bending statements in all walks of life throughout the ages.

 

Evil and Deviation

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Within the realm of religious convention, evil is often associated with deviation from behavior sanctioned by accepted liturgy. The most extreme form of this deviation is often depicted as sexual, whether it takes the form of adopting the style and grooming, or worse, the sexual practices of the opposite gender.

Involuntary Amorphology

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Victims of crime, disease and various forms of state sponsored punishment may suffer wounds to their bodies which result in the loss of outward gender difference. Often, whole populations which suffer through periods of war, famine or oppression lose not only  their humanity, but also their ability to function, and look like normal men and women.

 

Others From A Safe Distance

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Unconventional sexual preference or styling has been generally frowned upon throughout the world until very recently. One safe haven for these unconventional demonstrations has been in the form of entertainment which permits the flaunting of traditional gender role and styling as long as the fictional nature of these representations are clearly understood.

 

Pursuit of Anomaly

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Within the vast realm of human pursuit, both vocational and pleasure seeking, there are many pursuits which either require or consist of altering the form and function of the human body. Advances in medical science including the use of steroids and implants allow more ability to alter the figure than ever before. 

 

Sub and Super Gendered

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Appearances of super powered creatures pervade contemporary popular culture in both fictional and non-fictional forms. These creatures have powers such as immortality which transcend gender related strife or are the progeny of some altogether non-gendered species.

 

 

 

Body vs Soul

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Indistinct physical sexuality can arise in the case of men who proclaim to be “women trapped in male bodies” or vice versa. This group also includes “gay men trapped in women’s bodies” as well as “gay women trapped in men’s bodies” just in case you weren’t already confused.

 

Convergence of Species

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The future of human evolution does not bode well for the continuation of distinction between men and women. Robots and computers will continue to replace normal functions of not only the human mind, but the body as well, perhaps even procreative functions, relieving us of the need for gender once and for all.

 

Essence of Indistinction

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Androgyny has existed at the edges and sometimes at  the heart of spiritual movements throughout the world. Rosicrucian and alchemical sects have adopted androgynous imagery as symbolic of spiritual wholeness while other movements such as tantric yoga idealize the union of male and female energy in a more physical sense.

 

Homogeny and Cultural Dominance

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As the West, especially the United States, has attained dominance over the course of the last several centuries, cultures left out of the elite group become increasingly marginalized. They are seen as quaint oddities, providers of raw material and labor at below market rates. As commodities, individuals in these cultures lose their roles as men and women

Neither Human nor Huwoman

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Certain birth defects cause such extreme malformities that those who bear them are often seen as having more animal than human qualities. Other deformities may be caused by conditions which develop later in life. Individuals in this category have existed as either pariahs or as immensely popular entertainers.

 

Predetermined Indeterminance

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Human anatomy takes on a multitude of shapes and sizes, some as a result of environmental conditions and others purely as a result of genetic predisposition. Sometimes a certain combination of characteristics results in facial or other morphological features devoid of gender identity.

 

Spectacle of Confusion

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Entertainers and media outlets have long understood the value of attracting attention through spectacle. Along with sex, violence, catastrophe and suffering, characters and stories which challenge traditional gender role can attract the short attention span crowd.

 

The Third Sex Fetish

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The wilderness of human sexual activity seems to be infinitely full of variations which are being discovered on a daily basis.  Non procreative and non gender specific sexual activity  is de rigeur in contemporary society. Sexual fetish ranges from sex toys and multiple partners to semi and non-gendered partners and beyond.

 

 
 

Androgyne of the Week


 
Androgyne of the Week

Oksana Chusovitina