The Living Rede

Due to different combinations of Male and Female attributes, people tend to naturally gravitate to using either Yin or Yang energy depending on their gender. However, "gender" is a much broader array of attributes than most people realize. Through the practice and use of using both Yin and Yang energies, you can increase the power and flexibility of your magical workings.

LECTURE:

Much conflict in modern social development is centered around the concept of there being two genders and that "allowed" combinations of those two. If there were more than just two genders, this conflict would not be nearly as polarized as it is today.

Well, you're in luck, because I say there are a lot more than two genders. I say that even in a fairly simple syste of identifing genders, there are at least Sixty-Three (63) gender combinations.

Because gender is more specific than simply the genetalia attached to your body, which is normally referred to define your "sex",

To examine Gender (as opposed to Sex) I use a more specific definition than is typically used. Gender is broken down into three aspects based on the Physical, Personality and Preferences that the individual person exhibits. Each of these categories is then further broken down into three options: Male, Female and Androgynous. From these combinations of attributes, a persons gender can be identified with much more precision than previously available.

The Physical aspect is the most obvious: The typical Male body, the typical Female body, and the Androgynous body, which may display a fairly even mix of attributes of both Male and Female physical genders.

An Androgynous physical aspect is, in its most extreme form the Intersexual (the new preferred term for "Hermaphrodite"), which has both male and female genitalia, and in its other extreme as a person with no genetalia at all. In its most common form, it is a person with either male or female genitalia that is not easily distinguishable as being either male or female without intense scrutiny. If you look at someone and can't tell if they're male or female, that is a Physically Androgynous person. There are also rare cases of people born with either both male and female genetalia or none at all. These would also be classified under the Androgynous physical aspect. An Androgynous physcial attribute is now often refered to as being "Intersexual".

The Personality aspect is descriptive of their typical behavior in life, either typically male pursuits (Male Personality) and interests, typically female ones (Female Personality) , or an unusually even mix of both (Androgynous Personality).

The Preference aspect is descriptive of is how they express themselves emotionally, romantically, and/or sexually. Specifically, are they sexually and/or emotionally attracted to men, women or both (or possibly neither).

Here is a breakdown listing each combination of Physical, Personality and Preferential groups:

Key:

Phys = Physical Aspect, Pers= Personality Aspect, Pref = Preference Aspect
M = Male, having male reproductive organs/genitalias
F = Female, having female reproductive organs/genitalias
H = Hermaphrodite (Intersexual) having both or neither male and female reproductive organs/genitalias
AS = Asexual / Non-sexual (not shown on this chart)
A = Androgynous, near-equivalent traits of male and female
AM / Andromale = Physically Androgynous w/ Male Genitalia
AF / Androfemale = Physically Androgynous w/ Female Genitalia
HA / Androdite = Physically Androgynous Hermaphrodite
HM / Hermaphromale = Hermaphrodite with Male features / appearance
HF / Hermaphrofemale = Hermaphrodite with Female features / appearance
Masculine = "Typically" Male, as determined by the surrounding culture
Feminine = "Typically" Female, as determined by the surrounding culture
Androgine = Exhibits Androgynous Behavior (Equally Male and Female), as determined by the surrounding culture

#	Phys	Pers	Pref	Description
1	M	M	M	Masculine Homosexual Man
2	M	M	F	Masculine Heterosexual Man
3	M	M	A	Masculine Bisexual Man
4	M	F	M	Feminine Homosexual Man
5	M	F	F	Feminine Heterosexual Man
6	M	F	A	Feminine Bisexual Man
7	M	A	M	Androgine Homosexual Man
8	M	A	F	Androgine Heterosexual Man
9	M	A	A	Androgine Bisexual Man
10	F	M	M	Masculine Heterosexual Woman
11	F	M	F	Masculine Homosexual Woman
12	F	M	A	Masculine Bisexual Woman
13	F	F	M	Feminine Heterosexual Woman
14	F	F	F	Feminine Homosexual Woman
15	F	F	A	Feminine Bisexual Woman
16	F	A	M	Androgine Heterosexual Woman
17	F	A	F	Androgine Homosexual Woman
18	F	A	A	Androgine Bisexual Woman
19 20 21 22 23	AM AF HA HM HF	M	M	Masculine Homosexual Andromale Masculine Heterosexual Androfemale Masculine Male-Attracted Androdite Masculine Male-Attracted Hermaphromale Masculine Male-Attracted Hermaphrofemale
24 25 26 27 28	AM AF HA HM HF	M	F	Masculine Heterosexual Andromale Masculine Homosexual Androfemale Masculine Female-Attracted Androdite Masculine Female-Attracted Hermaphromale Masculine Female-Attracted Hermaphrofemale
29 30 31 32 33	AM AF HA HM HF	M	A	Masculine Bisexual Andromale Masculine Bisexual Androfemale Masculine Bisexual Androdite Masculine Bisexual Hermaphromale Masculine Bisexual Hermaphrofemale
34 35 36 37 38	AM AF HA HM HF	F	M	Feminine Homosexual Andromale Feminine Heterosexual Androfemale Feminine Male-Attracted Androdite Feminine Male-Attracted Hermaphromale Feminine Male-Attracted Hermaphrofemale
39 40 41 42 43	AM AF HA HM HF	F	F	Feminine Heterosexual Andromale Feminine Homosexual Androfemale Feminine Female-Attracted Androdite Feminine Female-Attracted Hermaphromale Feminine Female-Attracted Hermaphrofemale
44 45 46 47 48	AM AF HA HM HF	F	A	Feminine Bisexual Andromale Feminine Bisexual Androfemale Feminine Bisexual Androdite Feminine Bisexual Hermaphromale Feminine Bisexual Hermaphrofemale
49 50 51 52 53	AM AF HA HM HF	A	M	Androgine Homosexual Andromale Androgine Heterosexual Androfemale Androgine Male-Attracted Androdite Androgine Male-Attracted Hermaphromale Androgine Male-Attracted Hermaphrofemale
54 55 56 57 58	AM AF HA HM HF	A	F	Androgine Heterosexual Andromale Androgine Homosexual Androfemale Androgine Female-Attracted Androdite Androgine Female-Attracted Hermaphromale Androgine Female-Attracted Hermaphrofemale
59 60 61 62 63	AM AF HA HM HF	A	A	Androgine Bisexual Andromale Androgine Bisexual Androfemale Androgine Bisexual Androdite Androgine Bisexual Hermaphromale Androgine Bisexual Hermaphrofemale

This is the simplest and most "accessible" version of the Gender categories as I have broken it down. However, there are some expansions that would make it more complete, but would lose some value in the added complexity.

I will be putting up a another chart in the future that will include an additional "asexual" category. I have not been able to find any examples of asexuality in human physicality, personality, though a complete lack of attraction to others may constitute an asexual personality type.

Additionally, the Preferences category is simplified, including only options for Male, Female and Androgenous. To be complete, I would also break out the Preference category to have separate options for each of the 63 genders defined (any gender may be attracted to any other gender). However, this would end up with a chart with nearly 4000 genders, which, while technically accurate and complete, would be rather large for this page. If I get time, I will write a program to list all 4000 or so of them, but as I have written this page by hand, I'm not going to break them out myself manually (yet).

As you can see, this view of Gender provides much more flexibility in providing labels (when you want to use them). It also illustrates that there is a gender diversity, even within the typically view of "two genders". It is my hope that this might help in some way making discrimination based on gender less of a problem. It is easy to discriminate when there are only two possible gender options in your world-view. However, when you consider that there are many more than that, it makes the whole idea of discrimination against one group or another a bit sillier and more arbitrary-seeming.

Gender, Energy and Magic

Yang energy is tradionally viewed as Male, and Yin as Female. While most people tend to use one form or the other, you can become proficient in the use of both forms of energy by practicing working with them. Each energy is better suited for different things, and by developing your skill in working with both forms, you increase the power and flexibility available in your magic.