Against Androgyny

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Abstract
Although androgyny has become a pervasive feature in contemporary feminist discourse and is widely accepted as a model for a rational reordering of our presently inegalitarian sexual and social arrangements, the notion itself has rarely come in for systematic criticism. It promises a shiny new world where human beings no longer exhibit “negative and distorted personality characteristics,” where the “ideal androgynous being… could have no internal blocks to attaining self-esteem.” Yet, its near irresistibility requires explanation. Why is it that to be against androgyny leads one to be immediately branded as a “naturalist,” an “essentialist,” or even worse, a “sociobiologist,” a “biological reductionist,” or the representative of other obnoxious and reactionary viewpoints?

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