Okay here’s why you should stop using the word “androgynous” if you’re perisex
(And other related words)
The word “androgynous” and “androgyny” was originally made to refer to intersex people, and is defined with an interphobic slur (hermaphrodite). The current meaning that many perisex people use is still interphobic even if they don’t mean it to be.
This is a definition for the word androgynous. The definition reads, “partly male and partly female in appearance; of indeterminate sex.” Underneath that it reads, “DATED, having the physical characteristics of both sexes; hermaphrodite.”
That’s the definition that pulls up when you first google “androgynous.” I’m going to focus on the “dated” definition first, and then move on to discuss why the “modern” meaning is interphobic still. Obviously the dated definition is clearly defined as meaning intsersex individuals as it’s literally defined with a slur that refers to intersex individuals. And it isn’t just here that it claims that, here’s some more sources that describe “androgynous” as referring to intersex individuals.
“When androgyny refers to mixed biological sex characteristics in humans, it often refers to intersex people.” [source]
“Androgyny, condition in which characteristics of both sexes are clearly expressed in a single individual. In biology, androgyny refers to individuals with fully developed sexual organs of both sexes, also called hermaphrodites… Androgynous figures occurred frequently in Greek mythology, often embodying a blend of desirable male and female characteristics. The blind seer Tiresias, a figure of great wisdom, was sometimes depicted as a hermaphrodite.” [source]
“both male and female in one; hermaphroditic” [source]
“being both male and female; hermaphroditic.” [source]
“Possessing the sex organs of both sexes.” [source]
“Synonyms for androgynous… hermaphrodite” “It is said to be androgynous or hermaphrodite—hence its peculiarly sacred character.” [source]
Okay, I think that gets my point across about this definition being quite common and well known, and labeled as such on basically every dictionary website. Now you might say “bUt jEaN, thAts tHe BioLoGy dEfiNitiOn!!!1!1!” as if that somehow doesn’t make it less harmful. Well in that case, let’s start by taking a look at the roots of the word “androgynous.”
Keep in mind this is from Wikipedia but you can look at the sources on it if for some reason you doubt it. “The adjective use [of androgyny] dates from the early 17th century and is itself derived from the older French… and English… term androgyne. The terms are ultimately derived from Ancient Greek: ἀνδρόγυνος, from ἀνήρ, stem ἀνδρ- (anér, andro-, meaning man) and γυνή (gunē, gyné, meaning woman) through the Latin: androgynus, The older word form androgyne is still in use as a noun with an overlapping set of meanings.”
So to define that in simple terms, we’ll just say that the word “androgynous” comes from the words “man” and “woman” mashed together. That’s how many people view intersex individuals (unfortunately), as being a combination of both men and women. Obviously that’s untrue and extremely interphobic to reduce us down to that, but it is common knowledge that some intersex individuals can have both “male and female” reproductive parts (I am/was one of those intersex individuals). If you don’t believe me on that then I guess you’ll just have to do your own research because I’m not about to give a lesson on everything intersex.
Besides the biological usage of the word, intersex individuals are embedded in the history of “androgynous.” For example, from the wikipedia page, “Androgyny among humans… is attested to from earliest history and across world cultures. In ancient Sumer, androgynous and hermaphroditic men were heavily involved in the cult of Inanna.”
Here’s another piece of information about the word in which it is compared to the same interphobic slur in philosophy. “The philosophical concept of the “Universal Androgyne” (or “Universal Hermaphrodite”) – a perfect merging of the sexes that predated the current corrupted world and/or was the utopia of the next – also plays a central role in Rosicrucian doctrine… and in philosophical traditions such as Swedenborgianism and Theosophy.”
Now if you somehow don’t think historical definitions are as important as “modern” ones, let’s go back to what I mentioned earlier about androgynous meaning “man and woman” and what many people view intersex as. In the image of the first definition you see, the first part of the definition stated “ partly male and partly female in appearance.” That’s also how I’ve seen many individuals use the term, to refer to being “in-between the sexes.”
The implication of this modern definition is that people want to look like they cannot be distinguished from male or female, or that they have both qualities. That goes directly back to the roots of the word and saying that they want to look like they’re intersex. So even if people are not wanting to sound interphobic, by using this word they are promoting interphobic ideals, a word that is defined by a slur, and has a historical background and modern background in referring to intersex individuals.
Now I’ve seen several perisex people use the word “androgyne” to describe their gender, and I’d just like to state that it’s literally the same thing as saying “androgynous” and if you are perisex you should most definitely not be using that word to describe yourself. The nonbinary wiki even admits, “Historically, an androgyne has been a word for an intersex person, and this use of that word is not obsolete.” [source] They try to state that gender identity and sex is different- which is correct, but it’s not an excuse to use intersex words and slurs to define your gender if you are perisex.
The term intergender is also not an acceptable word to use if you are perisex considering how closely it sounds to intersex and let’s be honest, it’s literally a rip-off of the word intersex. The prefix “inter” means “in-between” or “both,” again claiming that they are both male and female (an interphobic defintion). In fact, according to the nonbinary wiki, “the old definition and Aeshling’s definition agree that “intergender” means a gender identity between female and male, one which may be a mix of both.” [source] One of the creators of the terms, Donna Lynn Matthews, was not even intersex yet thought it was okay to steal a term from intersex individuals.
[source] for the original definition of the term being interphobic and using interphobic language. [source] again for proof of Matthews being perisex and for using interphobic language.
Moving back onto the term “androgynous” specifically… you might be saying now, “but Jean, so many people use this word and they don’t mean it in an interphobic manner! So I can keep using it, right?” WRONG!! The history of this word is still extremely important, and it’s up to perisex people (the ones who stole our terms) to fix this. We had this word used against us as a slur for centuries, and it’s still defined as a slur, so the least you can do is stop using this word in your vocabulary, to boost intersex voices, and to inform others of the interphobia embedded in the history and modern definition of this word.
Now that you know that the term androgynous, androgyne, and intergender should all not be used, what are some other words you can use? First of all, you do have the ability to coin terms and it should not be intersex people’s jobs to do the work for perisex people who steal terminology and try to erase the history of slurs. Secondly, here’s some examples: gender neutral, neutral, GNC, ambiguous, etc.
Now stop using this word :) If you’re perisex and you have a problem with this post, shut up and learn to listen to intersex people. If you’re intersex and you have a problem with this post, maybe you should work on your internalized interphobia and do some research, because the harmful nature of this word is very, very clear. This post isn’t meant to “gatekeep” anybody, it’s informing people of the history of an intersex word.
