THE ANSWER LIES MIDWAY : ANDROGYNY

“Androgyny is not trying to manage the relationships between the opposites, it is simply flowing between them.”

– June Singer

Have you ever wondered why after years of having nurtured in an environment, it starts to itch you later. Not because you grew over the years or have experienced half of the world but because many man-made orders are packed with internal contradictions.

One such ideology born out of that itch, which we are going to talk about, in this cloud space, is Androgyny. Androgyny was one of the ideas born, when people realised a lot of societal norms on gender, held no strong foundation. It is an umbrella term, many a times used for denoting interrelationships between sex, gender and sexuality. The ideology flows into 2 main streams – Gender Identity, where androgynous individuals may refer to themselves as non-binary, genderqueer or gender neutral and Gender Expresion, which is the most visible form, which is achieved through grooming or fashion. For example : a hermaphrodite is an androgynous organism and unisex fashion is a form of androgynous clothing.

Now, it would be unfair to talk about the community without having a conversation with someone who belongs to that institution. Shubham Gaware is a 3rd year student at NIFT Mumbai, pursuing Bachelors in Design, who has been self motivated and has adopted and promotes this lifestyle all over his social media. We had a small chat with him and what’s fascinating about this conversation is the fact that the answers are pure and holds true for the entire community.

First up, anyone would be curious to know what led or leads individuals into adopting androgyny as a lifestyle, to which Shubham impeccably answered that “it was never a switch for him”. Androgyny was his way of ‘simply portraying himself’. And no different, he had his share of struggles through his feelings but now he feels more confident in just the way he is. In fact, he recalls, that it was after his 10th grade  that he started doing make-up, which was a step closer for him to be himself while others his age were still looking out. When your thoughts and feelings are in cahoots, you are bound to find yourself being miserable and a feeling of disconnection arises. Shubham makes it clear that it is not about being homosexual, asexual, heterosexual etc. but what amatters and stays for long is harmony which is achieved through one’s soul and mind. The ‘change’ was never a choice, Shubham likes to call it Self Acceptance and throughout the journey he has only become more happier, sorted and have made real bonding with some really good people and his relationships with his family and friends also improved.

However, in deep rooted societies, like the ones we see in India, comes with its own set of challenges, when individuals stand up against anything which is ‘socially’ accepted but not true. Optimistic, as we talk to him, Shubham says that the “Indian society is changing now, unlike in his childhood when multiple examples of how a man or a woman should behave etc.” were taught throughout.  He recalls those times, when he was so afraid to even talk about LGBTQ topics. He developed feelings that people would hate him and attack him verbally or physically, which made him fear crowds attention especially when he travelled. But gratefully, that never happened and must not happen to anyone!

Talking about the present scenario of this lifestyle, art, music and fashion industry have always been most supportive, which also helps in creating awareness.

Individuals like Shubham are grateful to their family and friends who accept them the way they love and have accepted themselves.

Team #HeraldingModeDeVie would like to applaud people like Shubham cause it takes guts to stand with a crowd but courage to stand alone.

Until Next Time.

Thank You!

We’ll meet you next in November.

(Image Source : Instagram @gaware.shubham https://www.instagram.com/gaware.shubham/)