androgyny

An androgynous individual is one who unites the characteristics of both sexes. Androgyny has been of interest to some sociologists who study gender because it makes problematic the taken-for-granted assumptions of what it is to be a man or a woman. Examples include Harold Garfinkel's case-study of ‘Agnes’ or Michel Foucault's historical dossier on Herculine Barbine. More commonly it provides the subject-matter of much science fiction (see e.g.’s Woman at the Edge of Time). Some feminists advocate cultural or psychological (rather than physical) androgyny as an alternative to patriarchy.