Let’s get it on

FROM ISSUE # 186 (June 2011) | IN THIS ISSUE
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NGAWANG TARA GHALE

When WAVE was asked what we were doing for our next issue, the initial idea was to write a piece on androgyny. That idea was met with looks of bafflement and the common response, oh so you are working on a gay story. That only made us more determined to face this issue head on as for most of us, we had equated it with the growing blurring of the lines between the genders concerning fashion. For how many of us haven't put on our dads, brothers, boyfriends, husbands t-shirts and shirts at one point of time or another. Men too, true, mostly younger men, can be seen dabbling with nail polish, long hair, manicured eyebrows and of course, the ubiquitous skinny jeans.

While generating ideas for this June issue, what we kept coming across was story ideas concerning sex. Often shyly proposed by different contributors, the idea took hold and when we gave them complete creative freedom to do with it what they would; we were surprised by the diversity of issues that were submitted.

The one thing we were determined not to do was to create a titillating, cutesy Cosmo like spread with the 10 best positions to do it in and articles of that ilk. We have articles ranging from cruising for gay sex to Nepal's first sex store; we have a hard hitting well-researched one on the growing sexual abuse of children in Nepal; we have a death metal rocker ranting about lust; these are all articles that are about difficult-to-digest topics and stereotype smashing ideas. When compiling this issue we assumed a certain age group and intelligence of our readers so as to encourage dialogue and discourse.

We want to start a conversation going, shake the status quo. Like Marvin Gaye famously crooned, 'Let's get it on', let us indeed get it on! Some articles might offend, others make you empathise, yet others make you think out of 'your box' forcing you to face issues that are so out of your comfort zones as to be construed as completely alien.

Yes, this is a risqué issue, so react. Agree, disagree, congratulate, condemn, vent- but react. ( Rubeena D Shrestha)

an.dro.gyn.y- combining both masculinity and femininity as traits of a unified gender that defies social roles and psychological attributes. Androgyny is not a description of ones sexual orientation, but embraces them all- heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and transgender.

To say that a culture or relationship is androgynous is to say that it lacks rigid gender roles.   People display characteristics or partake in activities traditionally associated with the other sex. And nowhere is this most evident than among young people across the world. Girls are doing everything that only boys were meant to and often excelling at them. 

Rather than bowing meekly in submission to what the elders and conservative wisdom dictated, conforming to belong, youngsters' today hold individual autonomy in high regard. Individual freedom allows one to pursue one's rights, happiness and freedom in personal choice of living. It includes the right to express personal sexual orientation. 

Androgyny is 'natural' as all humans are born with male and female sex hormones, but gender behaviour is conditioned by social norms that differ from culture to culture. The notion of androgyny wasn't accepted in society till 1976 when Dr. Sandra Bem, introduced the concept of 'psychological androgyny' to describe those men and women who did not fit into traditionally defined gender roles. She also forwarded the view that a blending of masculine and feminine dispositions is more adaptive than stereotypic emphasis on either alone. 

Androgyny is being embraced everywhere- institutionalised by entertainment and fashion cultures to create a challenging perspective on human sexuality for our times.  As borders blur, markets merge, and cultures blend, androgyny seems to have found its way to the global mainstream.