I don’t think androgyny in general is genuinely valued but can we talk about how “desirable” androgyny is always about neutrality and removing as much as possible (white, super thin, no boobs no bulge no body hair) whereas “ugly” androgyny tends to be fat, hairy, full of gender (visible breasts/bulge), often involves people of color. like whenever we see sci fi Futuristic Androgyny it’s always “we’ve removed all possible characteristics” never “we combined all these characteristics” & me myself? as someone who’s androgyny is hairy and genderful and “ugly”? i notice
im going to speculate that a thin, pale body that’s had all sexuality and all physicality excised is seen as inhuman in a sort of sanctified, transcendant way: in this fucked up mind-over-matter culture, we can give a stiff nod of approval to those intellectual creatures who have elevated themselves beyond the demands and restrictions of flesh, even as the idea of an ungendered identity might provoke uncomfortable questions about the necessity of gender in our own lives.
but too much of a body, too much hair, too much dick, too much tits, too much flesh, too much scars and color and muscle and fat, that body provokes not just revulsion but immediate cognitive dissonance. not only are we not supposed to enjoy the sheer animal messiness of being embodied, but also if Male and Female are exclusive and oppositional categories, you might be able to serenely remove yourself from the fight, but you’re certainly not allowed to play both sides at once. because there have to be sides. because it can’t be a game. because this is not a gentle, self-effacting withdrawal from the battle of the sexes, this is a confrontation of the war itself. so it provokes. it revolts. it becomes inhuman in the way of monsters: it is an omen of terrible things. it signifies an end to the familiar way of being and doing.
people are scared of angels, and people are scared of monsters. but one of those gets revered and one of those gets butchered. the fleshy body, the perverse body, the confrontational, iconoclastic body, that is the body that’s hated. the genderfluid is only acceptable as water, not wine. as less, not more.
but anyway fuck literally all of that. be yourself anyway. fuck em!
