Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Good evening, all.  I've left a post in the general introductions board, but I feel I should probably lay out some territory here, since this seems to be most in my territory.  I'm still feeling out the system here - although most forum softwares are 95% identical, this one's expression is a little odd.

Question - Is androgyne taken as an appropriated term?  (Like "gay", I mean.)  I was once referred to as that when I was fourteen, and it wasn't in a nice context, and most literature I've read (mostly science fiction) used the term as a term of ignorance.  Is "genderless" considered bad these days?  I was taken off-guard when I was told not to call a friend of mine "hermaphroditic" (and so was s/he, for that matter - neither of us had heard the term "intersex" before).

Are you sure the word you read was androgyne? Or was it androgynous?
The two may have the same origins but here (at least) they have different meanings. 

Granted, it was probably "androgene" rather than "androgyne".  Why?

EDIT:  I don't think it's a bad term even if appropriated.  I was asking mostly from curiousity.

Mmmm odd, be interested to hear about what these books are. As far as I know, it is a word that has a slightly spiritual/psychological usage but is used very rarely. I don't know of it being a bad term, that is until people actually meet us.

Androgyne is not especially "standardized," if that's what you mean.  Roughly, our construct encompasses two things:

1) Having a *gender identity* that does not adhere to the traditional binary model.  Intersex people who do not "choose" a gender can also fall into this category.

2) Having a *gender expression* (sufficient to trigger our definition "Transgender") that does not adhere to gender norms.  Admittedly, this one can end up covering a broad chunk of people depending how strictly you define "gender norms."

Something worth noting is that two things can happen independently of each other.  You can have a mundane expression but unique identity, and likewise a mundane identity with a unique expression.  Don't think one thing has to lead to another.

Quote from: Kaelin on December 22, 2008, 12:32:53 AM
Androgyne is not especially "standardized," if that's what you mean.  Roughly, our construct encompasses two things:

1) Having a *gender identity* that does not adhere to the traditional binary model.  Intersex people who do not "choose" a gender can also fall into this category.

2) Having a *gender expression* (sufficient to trigger our definition "Transgender") that does not adhere to gender norms.  Admittedly, this one can end up covering a broad chunk of people depending how strictly you define "gender norms."

Something worth noting is that two things can happen independently of each other.  You can have a mundane expression but unique identity, and likewise a mundane identity with a unique expression.  Don't think one thing has to lead to another.

I take it you mean an androgyne is BOTH of these things?

nah, just the first one, 'cept the intersex people, they get to choose.