I’m NC Eakin and I write a blog called Genderqueer Fashionista over on Tumblr. I mostly write advice for people who are both fashion and gender curious. A word I come across very often in my writing and being part of the gender/queer community on Tumblr is the idea of androgyny.
First, to define what I see as a troubling definition of androgyny, I’d like to point to this screen capture of Google image results for “androgynous fashion”:
The results here point out a lot of my contentions with the generally associated idea of androgyny. Androgynous is most often used to describe a person who is FAAB (female assigned at birth, who may or may not identify as female), is white, thin (flat-chested and doesn’t have hips), has short hair, wears masculine clothes, applies little to no makeup, and has no body hair.
I’m surprised to see the number of long-haired people that are visible in this screen capture but I think it’s notable that “Men’s” and “Male” are both separate categories one can browse in this search- showing that androgyny is usually used to describe people we might call women who look less than feminine.
The #androgyny tag on Tumblr highlights this familiar association and I often see posts that comment “The perfect picture of androgyny” with a photo like the ones above and below here.
It’s obvious that this definition is limiting for so many reasons- upholding the single beauty standard of a white/ person of European descent who is thin, hairless, and doesn’t have breasts or hips is something that is well-documented within feminist literature as harmful to developing healthy body image and self-concept. I believe it’s particularly harmful in queer spaces online and off to see that these same ideals are being passed off without question when called androgyny.
I think the solution is to shift our idea about what we can call androgyny. I believe queer people can and do rally around beautiful humans who live their gender in unique and authentic ways that help create new gender options for more than just female-bodied individuals, and that’s is a direction we should aim for. Especially when gender variety is celebrated in tandem with body diversity and racial/ethnic diversity and we all aren’t just trying to fit our wide spectrum of bodies into a single box. Even when that box is constructed to describe a blending of identities, the word itself can hold a limiting meaning. I want to work on talking about something as binary as fashion (where men’s and women’s clothes are a given in any retail outlet) in a less binary way, and I believe that conversation starts with “androgyny.”
I’ll leave you with some beautifully androgynous folks of a wide spectrum of identities who regularly inspire me:
My pal Sean of *fruitpunch, wearing a lot of pleather and a skort in this picture.
My darling partner N, who sometimes writes about her outfits and clothing woes on her blog.
Majestic Legay, who writes brilliantly about fatshion and their cats and gorgeous partner.
Michael of His Black Dress
The super dapper Blake who writes at Qwear and on her blog The Curvy Lesbian.
There are many, many others who are inspiring in their willingness to share tips on fit, thrifting, and style generally, but these are a few of my favorites.
