Androgynous Man
The Androgynous Man
At a point in Noel Perrin’s life, he suddenly became conflicted over his masculinity. It was such a breakthrough, that he had to analyze the whole situation. Although it took some years to finally grasp the concept of it, Perrin is now comfortable and understands the logic behind the typical gender roles; not from research and other people’s work, but from his own experience and his own ideas. At an age where you would generally start to develop from a boy to a man, age sixteen, Noel Perrin found himself on a three-day trip from New York to Steamboat Springs, Colorado to become an assistant horse wrangler. On this trip with him, Perrin brought Gone with the Wind and a handful of magazines that obtained some interesting articles. In a short period of time, Perrin was out of reading material so he then went back and read all the boring articles and all the quizzes that you would find in a magazine at the time. One of the quizzes that really caught Perrin’s eye was “How Masculine/ Feminine Are You?” The quiz consisted of inkblots that had four options as choices and you would answer the option that you thought the inkblot most resembled. When Perrin finished this quiz and then found out his results, he was astonished by the conclusion. On a scale from one to ten of masculinity, Perrin was an abysmal 1.2. Perrin was so confounded over the results that he then went back and analyzed every option. From this, he came up with two basic patterns that he found in the inkblot choices. Perrin claims that males would relate to the inkblots as man-made objects while, females would relate to the inkblots as natural objects. He then went on to conclude that the test itself was using limited criteria and that masculinity/femininity is more complicated than this test states. Perrin believes that there are a large percent of males and females who are androgynous or have both gender qualities. Furthermore, Perrin then proceeds to classify the different gender
At a point in Noel Perrin’s life, he suddenly became conflicted over his masculinity. It was such a breakthrough, that he had to analyze the whole situation. Although it took some years to finally grasp the concept of it, Perrin is now comfortable and understands the logic behind the typical gender roles; not from research and other people’s work, but from his own experience and his own ideas. At an age where you would generally start to develop from a boy to a man, age sixteen, Noel Perrin found himself on a three-day trip from New York to Steamboat Springs, Colorado to become an assistant horse wrangler. On this trip with him, Perrin brought Gone with the Wind and a handful of magazines that obtained some interesting articles. In a short period of time, Perrin was out of reading material so he then went back and read all the boring articles and all the quizzes that you would find in a magazine at the time. One of the quizzes that really caught Perrin’s eye was “How Masculine/ Feminine Are You?” The quiz consisted of inkblots that had four options as choices and you would answer the option that you thought the inkblot most resembled. When Perrin finished this quiz and then found out his results, he was astonished by the conclusion. On a scale from one to ten of masculinity, Perrin was an abysmal 1.2. Perrin was so confounded over the results that he then went back and analyzed every option. From this, he came up with two basic patterns that he found in the inkblot choices. Perrin claims that males would relate to the inkblots as man-made objects while, females would relate to the inkblots as natural objects. He then went on to conclude that the test itself was using limited criteria and that masculinity/femininity is more complicated than this test states. Perrin believes that there are a large percent of males and females who are androgynous or have both gender qualities. Furthermore, Perrin then proceeds to classify the different gender
Cited: Perrin, Noel. "The Androgynous Man." 40 Model Essays: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Jane E. Aaron. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin 's, 2005. 246-49. Print.