The Androgynous Male

The Androgynous Male
In this essay, the author discuss the disadvantages of

traditional males roles and the advantages of androgyny. It
tells us that androgynous gender is not bad for people's
life like they imagine but it will make you more freedom
and special. It is not shameful but helpful.
First, the anecdote pops up the inkblot test of gender
roles. Thenin the essay, paragraph 6, "What it revealed
was that there is a large class of men and women both, to
which I belong, who are essentially androgynous. That
does not mean we are gay, or low in appropriate
hormones, or uncomfortable performing the jobs
traditionally assigned our sexes." The author reveals the
facts to the readers that in life it is not a problem if you
are not so masculine or feminine. Otherwise it is a kind
of freedom. Please do not press yourself take the burdens
of the traditionally-viewed gender. The examples of
envious men and the author himself all tell us do not care
more about the social views though there are different
distribution of men and women according to the
culturebiological and social elements. The
characteristics of our own gender do not matter much in
life such as fixing sinks.
Reader Response
After reading the essay The androgynous Male, I totally agree with
the author, Noel Perrins view. He said that the androgynous people
are freer to do what they want then those masculine or feminine
people. I think I am also one of them, the androgynous people. Why
cant a man be in a nurturing role? Is that make them weaker than
other male who are not? Let take me as an example, Im a girl but it
doesnt mean that I have to know how to cook and how to sew
clothes. Let me tell u, I dont know how to do all those things. Does
that make me a man? Men are also human, why cant they show
their emotion? The way that we can show our emotions is what
make us different from other species on Earth and you even call
them weak just because they cry when they sad? And knowing how
to maintain the house doesnt only make you manly. My mom is a
great example, she does all the maintenance of the house, from the
sink to the light bulb, etc. However, that doesnt make her a man
and if my father or brother cant do that, it doesnt make them
wimps. So my conclusion is that even though there are differences
between male and female, there arent anything that male can do
but female cannot and vice versa.
Noel Perrin, in The Androgynous Male, describes his

self-image in terms of how he does not meet traditional
sex-role expectations for men in society. He
remembered in his childhood, he was trying to suppress
and repress his emotions and pretended to be strong
and masculine. As he grows up, he felt confident about
himself instead of feeling inferior. He explains a lot of
benefits and freedoms for being a spiritually
androgynous and he feels sad that many of us never
discover that there is a range of choices open for us.
There are a large number of men living in the world who
are too busy copying the he-men. Those men fail to find
out men and women come in a wide variety of
acceptable types. Perrin gave two reasons for this
frantic imitation. First, he believes those men are just
envious of the he-mans unconscious ease. The other
reason is that those men are in the fear of finding that
there may be something wrong with them deep down.
To avoid drawing surprised and even suspicious
reactions from others, they spend their lives acting out
the role that the he-man naturally lives. In my opinion, I
think there is no solid line between macho and
feminismo. Androgynous, to me, is the ability to feel
comfort and joy in doing things that are traditionally
the domain of the opposite gender. Only those who lack
confidence in themselves will seek to imitate others. If
we always follow all the rules of what we should be,
then our psychological condition may be under great
pressure. We should see the occasional weakness as a
kind of fulfillment. The fact that we keep struggling to
repress inner feeling will lessen our ability to know,
honor and respect ourselves. Actually, an androgynous
man is knowledgeable, honorable, and respectful of all
things that shape his life.
Perrin describes his reactions to a magazine quiz which
indicated that he was barely masculine 1.2 on a
scale of 1 to 10. Further examination and introspection
convinces Perrin not only of the superficial dynamics of
the quiz, but that there is a large class of men and
women who are essentially androgynous. That doesnt
mean they are gay, or low in the appropriate hormones,
or uncomfortable performing the jobs traditionally
assigned their sexes. In The Androgynous Man, Perrin
gave us several examples of what the freedom of the
androgynous man is to define the androgynous male. In
his own case of being baby sitter, he got an opportunity
to see a child eat and sew patches on the knees of his

daughter. He had a lot of pleasure nurturing his
daughter. Also, because his daughter had gone to
London, he had to look after the cat for his daughter. It
makes him know how silky cat fur is when one night he
simply felt like kissing the cat. After that, he started to
feel free to kiss cats. Moreover, he read the book
entitled Home Repairs Any Woman Can Do which he
never read when he was a youth due to the fear of
becoming transvestite. In addition, he never mind
crying in the public now when seeing an emotional
scene in a play. I think Perrin might describe the
androgynous female as the one who drives the bus or
being a taxi driver. They go out to work but not bear the
responsibility of childcare, and household chores. They
can act more independent if the situation calls for
independence and they might have great ambitious
toward their career. Also, thinking logically will be
another factor to make them be considered as
Androgynous females.

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The Androgynous Male

In this essay, the author discuss the disadvantages of

Noel Perrin, in The Androgynous Male, describes his

to see a child eat and sew patches on the knees of his

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