Feminine men and masculine women do not always have an easy life. They have to deal with the distrust and ridicule of others. But on the other hand, a combination of qualities inherent in both sexes can stimulate creativity.
A few years ago, a scandal erupted on the Internet: the vice-mayor of Volgograd visited a sports school and was indignant at the fact that … boys were engaged in the ballroom dancing section. “These are some kind of same-sex creatures, twisting their priests,” according to eyewitnesses, the official said at the time.
It would seem, dancing and dancing, what is it? But our culture is designed in such a way that we expect different things from boys and girls. Each gender has its own set of acceptable and unacceptable activities, behaviors and feelings. Boxing and football are “masculine” sports, ballet and gymnastics are “feminine”.
When a boy cries, they say to him: “Don’t cry, you’re a boy!” But if he started a fight with a classmate, they don’t say to him: “Don’t fight, you’re a boy!” The implication is that boys tend to be a bit of a bully. The girl, on the contrary, is charged with being sensitive and accommodating, not raising her voice, not arguing.
Captured by ourselves
Boys and girls with “non-standard” behavior often become outcasts in their environment. A modest and polite boy can be an excellent student, a joy for teachers – after all, they do not have to see his parents at school every week because of another broken glass or a black eye put on someone. But for peers, he is “quiet”, “nurse”, “mumbler”.
Stereotypes can be effective on their own: after all, aggressiveness once helped men compete for a better woman and leader status. But today they can cause more problems than they are useful. A recent study from Indiana University Bloomington found that men who rigidly adhere to stereotypes of masculinity are less likely to cope with their psychological problems.
Psychological androgyny is directly related to the ability to be creative
“I was depressed for three years before I realized it was her,” says Ivan, 44. “My wife took me to the doctor. Only then did I realize how ridiculously I was behaving: turning off the phone and disappearing, trying to kill myself, working to exhaustion, because “this is how I need it.” I couldn’t talk to anyone about how I felt, it just didn’t cross my mind. I grew up in a military camp where guys burned their hands with cigarettes to prove their toughness. I never heard the word “feelings” from anyone.”
What gender is genius?
Rigid ideas about masculine and feminine cut off from us some of the experiences that are considered inappropriate. According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (in the book Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discoveries and Inventions), psychological androgyny is directly related to the ability to be creative, because it allows a person to perceive the world from different angles of view.
“Psychologically, an androgynous person is by no means defective,” he notes. “On the contrary, it has a double arsenal of possible reactions and can interact with the world in a wider range of possibilities.”
The ability to combine male and female psychological traits can be a trump card for those whose work is related to the search for unusual solutions.
Science journalist Malcolm Gladwell, in David and Goliath, wrote that those who at first seem like an outsider can turn their imaginary “inferiority” to their advantage. To do this, you just need to understand that a disadvantage in the eyes of the majority can become an advantage where you need to come up with something new and play not according to the written rules.