What is an androgynous appearance? What are some distinctions?

Quote from: jasper3 on June 22, 2012, 10:04:35 AM
What is an androgynous appearance? What are some distinctions?

When someone presents some way other than totally male or totally female.

Some people adopt dress and hairstyle that makes it hard to tell their gender. Other people mix traditionally male and traditionally female appearance, like a masculine business suit with painted fingernails.

So is it merely clothing or bodily as well?

Quote from: jasper3 on June 22, 2012, 10:48:39 AM
So is it merely clothing or bodily as well?

Definitely body also. A lot of FTAs get cosmetic breast reduction, for example.

I feel kind of guilty for posting this, I'm curious but I mainly ask this for questions for a new character I'm making in a book. But I'm also, still, curious and open.
I tried going on google for androgynous bodies but only models, nothing "real" and "natural" so I figured I'd ask true people, for real information.

If you want to see in pictures a type of androgeny, look over some of the recent posts by one of our members, VannaSiamese.

Vanna is a very interesting person, who has experienced much in their journey from MtFtA.

I feel weird for asking this as well, but what are some pronouns to use??
I see "zhe, ze, shim, zhim, their, they, person (though not technically a pronoun), s/he, (s)he, he/she, him/her, his/hers" and countless others.

Oh! I've seen VannaSiamese's pictures. I think it was some thread but I forgot, lol.

Quote from: jasper3 on June 22, 2012, 02:29:49 PM
I feel weird for asking this as well, but what are some pronouns to use??
I see "zhe, ze, shim, zhim, their, they, person (though not technically a pronoun), s/he, (s)he, he/she, him/her, his/hers" and countless others.

There is a lot of discussion about this, and several threads address these issues.

As I am bi-gendered, and somewhat genderfluid, I am not offended by pronouns - but that's just me.

If you encounter an androgyne and are unsure of what to do, just ask, "How should I address you?"  They will understand, and in my case, appreciate it.

Androgynous appearance also doesn't necessarily mean that person is an androgyne. As far as I know my sister is cis and she's been rocking the androgynous look since high school. She would probably be mad at me if I directed complete strangers to pictures of her though.
As for pronouns, there are many ways to be non-binary, so it's best to ask individuals. I'm genderfluid and, although being called "he" makes me feel ridiculously happy when I'm a guy, only one person has ever called me that in RL.

I have two characters in this book that are extremely confusing to me (I guess that is what makes them do appealing to me?) but one is a true hermaphrodite (like in your avatar, Jamie lol, the god/dess Hermaphrodite) and one is an androgynous faerie. The problem is: I do not know how to, for one, draw their bodies, and secondly, I don't know how to have other characters address them.
And the faerie is supposed to be a prince or princess and the hermaphrodite is a slave.

What kind of faerie?

Quote from: jasper3 on June 22, 2012, 02:33:04 PM
Oh! I've seen VannaSiamese's pictures. I think it was some thread but I forgot, lol.

If you click on the "screen name"  you will call up a member's profile.  Below the avatar you will find a button "Show posts."

Click on that and you will be able to see the past posts.

A drawing of it so far.
and here's a little default description:
Full name: Faerie Princess Adélaïde Petit
Age: 13
Height: 33 cm
Weight: 2 kg
Personality: mischievous, playful, kind
Likes: playing pranks, embarrassing Aurelius by touching herself, driving Aurelius mad
Dislikes: people ruining her pranks, Aurelius making fun of her deformed wing
Talents/skills: dancing and singing

Quote from: jasper3 on June 22, 2012, 02:51:08 PM
I have two characters in this book that are extremely confusing to me (I guess that is what makes them do appealing to me?) but one is a true hermaphrodite (like in your avatar, Jamie lol, the god/dess Hermaphrodite) and one is an androgynous faerie. The problem is: I do not know how to, for one, draw their bodies, and secondly, I don't know how to have other characters address them.
And the faerie is supposed to be a prince or princess and the hermaphrodite is a slave.

Hermaphroditus

Oh, in class, my teacher simply said Hermaphrodite (-us usually denotes masculinity, yes? And -ia, -a, -e, -i denotes femininity.)

Oh, I just looked it up, I stand corrected.

Quote from: jasper3 on June 22, 2012, 03:18:11 PM
Oh, I just looked it up, I stand corrected.

We androgynes know these things.

The term "hermaphrodite" (derived from Hermaphroditus) is largely disused now.

It's intersexed or sexually ambiguous now, isn't it?

Yeah, the term is intersex when it's applicable to humans.
Technically, the term hermaphrodite is still used for organisms that actually are hermaphrodites (can reproduce as either the male or the female- like flowers). That isn't possible in humans.