From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Androgyny is a term derived from the
Greek words ανήρ (
anér, meaning man) and γυνή (
gyné, meaning woman) that can refer to two concepts regarding the mixing of both male and female
genders or having a lack of gender identification. The first is the mixing of
masculine and
feminine characteristics, be it the example of the loud fashion statements of musicians like
David Bowie,
Gackt Camui,
Marilyn Manson,
Annie Lennox,
Grace Jones,
Prince,
Freddie Mercury,
Boy George, and
Pete Burns or the balance of "
anima" and "
animus" in
Jungian psychoanalytic theory. The second is in describing something that is neither masculine nor feminine, for example the
Hijras of
India who are often described as "neither man nor woman" or
angels which are often portrayed as genderless.
