[AGTRT-BA24] The secondary gender identity (SGI) determines the androgynous personality structure

Laurens Buijs
Amsterdam Gender Theory Research Team (AGTRT).

Structure of this blog

Introduction
Androgyny
Masculinity and femininity in consciousness
Masculine and feminine personality characteristics
Patriarchal versus matriarchal socialization of the SGI
Androgynous personality traits
Three androgynous personality types
Conclusion

1. Introduction

Androgyny-Based Gender Theory (ABGT) is fundamentally about the role that gender and sexuality play in consciousness. From there, ABGT formulates a new view of gender identity called Androgyny-Based Gender Identity (ABGI). ABGI consists of three aspects: primary gender identity (PGI), secondary gender identity (SGI) and tertiary gender identity (TGI).

Read more about the distinction between the PGI and the SGI:
The distinction between primary and secondary gender identity makes room for androgyny

Primary gender identity (PGI) is primarily biological: it arises in the relationship between self and body, and gives an individual a sense of gender embodiment (“I am male,” “I am female,” or “I am neutral”).
Secondary gender identity (SGI) is primarily psychological: it arises in the relationship between self and consciousness, and provides the individual with one of three androgynous personality types (“I have a male-androgynous personality,” “I have a female-androgynous personality,” or “I have a neutral-androgynous personality”).
Tertiary gender identity (TGI) is primarily sociological: it arises in the relationship between self and Other, and allows the individual to develop social gender roles (“I behave masculine,” “I behave feminine,” or “I behave androgynous”).

Learn more about the PGI:
Primary gender identity is about whether we feel male, female or neutral

In scientific and social discussions on gender, there is a lot of attention to issues that touch on PGI or TGI, but a lot less attention to issues that touch on SGI:

Discussions about gender identity, for example, are often about whether we feel male or female (or different), or about transgender people and gender transition. These are issues seen within ABGT as touching on PGI (see also AGTRT-BF48 and AGTRT-BF93).
In addition, from the social sciences and activism (feminism and LGBT) there has traditionally been a lot of focus on issues touching on gender norms and gender roles. How are men and women judged differently, how are traditional gender roles between men and women reproduced, and how do we break traditional gender norms? These are all questions that ABGT believes touch on TGI.
A whole range of questions that touch on other aspects of gender identity quickly remain out of the picture. This would include questions such as: what is a male woman and what is a female man? Do all men have feminine sides, and all women have masculine sides? Can a man develop his feminine side, and a woman her masculine? What are they anyway, “masculine” and “feminine” sides of a personality? Can we make that distinction without reproducing cultural stereotypes? These questions, according to ABGT, relate to the SGI.

So the SGI concerns all issues that deal with the development of our personality and personality traits. To give space to these types of questions and clearly distinguish them from questions that touch on PGI and TGI, the distinction between the three aspects of ABGI is helpful. To the best of our knowledge, the distinction between PGI, SGI and TGI has not previously been made in gender theory, and we propose to make that distinction.

SGI can be seen as the most central concept within ABGT because ABGT is primarily about the role that gender and sexuality play in human consciousness. Consciousness is also posited within ABGT as the “source of existence”: consciousness within ABGT is not the product of processes in the brain, but rather that which preceded both inorganic and organic evolution. Thus, according to ABGT, the three aspects of gender identity (the PGI, the SGI and the TGI, collectively the ABGI) can be seen as products, or manifestations, of consciousness.

ABGT draws inspiration from a wide range of scientific authors and theories, but is based primarily on the work of Carl Jung and those in his intellectual network, such as Emma Jung and Marie-Louise Von Franz. ABGT argues that the Jungian tradition (also referred to as analytic psychology) has provided fundamental insights about the role of gender and sexuality in consciousness. A central goal of ABGT is to give these insights renewed attention, and where possible to modernize them to make them compatible with 21st century science.

2. Androgyny

A central concept to further theorize the SGI is androgyny. Androgyny has two meanings in ABGT:

In ABGT, androgyny means, first, that all people (whether they are male, female or neutral), have both masculine and feminine traits or personality characteristics, or at least have the ability to develop both.
Second, it means that all human beings have the ability to achieve transcendent qualities based on their masculine and feminine personality traits that combine the best of both worlds. The latter personality traits are called androgynous.

In everyday language, androgyny is often used to refer to people with both male and female external characteristics. Someone like David Bowie can be characterized as an androgynous man. But this is not the meaning of androgyny in ABGT.

An androgynous person in ABGT is one who has developed both masculine and feminine personality traits, as well as integrated those traits into the personality. In ABGT, a tough man typical in appearance like Rico Verhoeven can also be an androgynous man, if he has developed and integrated his feminine side. Androgyny within ABGT is thus about inner characteristics, which do not necessarily translate into outer characteristics or gender expression.

Androgyny is the most central concept in ABGT, as it states that humans evolved as a matriarchal species on the Savannah some 300,000 years ago. Animal species with low levels of sexual dimorphism and high levels of androgyny are considered matriarchal species within AGBT, and that includes humans, as well as, for example, elephants, horses, bonobos and orcas. This is in contrast to typically patriarchal animal species, which are characterized by high levels of sexual dimorphism and low levels of androgyny, such as gorillas, baboons, lions and hyenas.

So the patriarchal relationships we have seen for millennia in all kinds of human societies worldwide cannot be explained by being innate, according to ABGT. ABGT argues instead that patriarchal relations arose 12,800 years ago at the beginning of the Neolithic revolution, possibly in response to a global crisis caused by a comet impact (see AGTRT-BA3). ABGT states: humans evolved as matriarchal and androgynous species, and only very recently (evolutionarily speaking) moved away from that by becoming patriarchal.

To understand that shift, we need to understand what happened to androgyny in secondary gender identity (SGI), ABGT argues. By understanding that well, we can reconstruct what must have happened in the psyche of our ancestors some 12,000 years ago, and how that got us where we are today. Moreover, this allows us to map how the human psyche can “switch back” to matriarchal functioning, which is, after all, our true nature (“species-specific”).

The SGI is theoretically based primarily on the tradition of Jungian psychology (known as analytic psychology) on human consciousness, particularly the role played in it by the archetypes Animus and Anima. According to Jung, these are two of the four elements of the most fundamental structure of human consciousness, the collective unconscious. In ABGT, Emma Jung’s work called Animus and Anima (1955) is considered the most complete and precise description of archetypes.

According to Jungian psychology, human consciousness consists of a personal and a collective part. The first part is formed by individual experiences and memories, while the second part is formed by universal archetypes: these are symbolic structures. Because archetypes are not directly accessible to individual consciousness, Jungian thought speaks of the collective unconscious.

3. Masculinity and femininity in consciousness

Archetypes are archetypes: universal and deeply rooted forms that humanity gives meaning to through cultural symbols. They are actually intrinsically part of the structure of consciousness, just as organs are part of the structure of our bodies. Although many archetypes are distinguished in Jungian psychology, there are ultimately four primal archetypes to which everything else can be traced. They play a role in the most fundamental part of consciousness, the collective unconscious. Those four are the Self, the Shadow, the Animus and the Anima:

The Self: The Self represents the totality of the psyche, including the conscious and unconscious. It symbolizes the pursuit of wholeness, integration and individuation.
The Shadow: The Shadow includes aspects of ourselves that we prefer to avoid, ignore or suppress. It often represents the dark, repressed part of our personality.
The Animus: The Animus refers to the masculine aspect in a woman’s unconscious. It symbolizes masculine traits, such as rationality, assertiveness and action.
The Anima: The Anima refers to the feminine aspect in a man’s unconscious. It symbolizes feminine qualities, such as intuition, emotion and connection.

According to Jungian psychology, people can strive for personal growth, self-actualization and psychic balance by exploring and integrating these archetypes. This is done through shadow work (see AGTRT-BA7). In ABGT terms, they are then developing their androgynous personality structure, or the SGI. This is called in the Jungian tradition the process of individuation , described in detail by Marie-Louise van Franz and others in Man and his Symbols (1964).

Developing the SGI through the process of individuation and doing shadow work is seen in ABGT as a way to de-socialize patriarchy. By following the principles of shadow work, a person can transform both his or her own “mindset” and the social relationships that person enters into into the “matriarchal mode,” and thereby move away from 12,800 years of patriarchal socialization.

Developing the SGI is done in two ways:

Developing both male and female personality traits;
Integrating these personality traits.

ABGT states that the former does not require shadow work, but the latter does.

4. Masculine and feminine personality characteristics

The above raises the question of what masculinity and femininity actually are. Through Jungian thinking, a degree of essentialism is brought back into the debate about gender, but this time that essence is sought not in the body, but in consciousness. Jung based his ideas about masculinity and femininity on his observations of human behavior, mythology, religion and symbolism, as well as his experiences as a psychoanalyst. Men and women often exhibited different psychological tendencies and behavioral patterns, according to Jung, and he sought to understand them from a deeper, archetypal perspective.

The question is often asked about the value of Jung’s work for us in the 21st century. Men and women at that time were naturally classified on morphological characteristics at birth: modern biological techniques for chromosome analysis did not yet exist. Jung had no inkling of the coming options for gender transition, nor of the impact feminism and LGBT empowerment would have on our thinking about gender and sexuality. We have now become much more aware of the importance of the distinction between sex (as a biological fact) and gender (as a cultural expression), and the diversity and fluidity associated with gender. Yet ABGT argues that Jung gained fundamental insights about the difference between masculinity and femininity, which, with some modification, are still useful to us as well.

From the analysis of Animus and Anima, analytical psychology concludes that masculinity is fundamentally about differentiation, and femininity is about integration. Jung saw the Anima as a unifying principle that can help the male psyche connect to the inner world of feelings and intuition (integration), while the Animus represents a differentiating principle that can help the female psyche differentiate itself and develop independence (differentiation).

In this way, we arrive at the following assumptions that we include as assumptions in ABGT:

Masculinity, or the masculine quality of consciousness:

Is at its core about differentiation, where the individual differentiates himself from others and develops his own identity.
Is reflected in the thinking function and perceptual function of the psyche. In ABGT, we assume that these two functions combine to produce cognitive-rational knowledge. Masculinity (like femininity) is thus seen as a form of knowledge production.
Leads to masculine personality traits: rational, goal-oriented, assertive and active.

Femininity, or the feminine quality of consciousness:

Is at its core about integration, where the individual makes connections and seeks unity with others and the world around them.
Is reflected in the feeling function and intuition function of the psyche. In ABGT, we assume that these two functions combine to produce emotionally-intuitive knowledge. Thus, femininity (like masculinity) is seen as a form of knowledge production.
Leads to feminine personality traits: intuitive, emotional, relational and passive.

To prevent the “reintroduction” through consciousness of any essentialist thinking from leading to the pitfalls known of essentialism (dogma, reproduction of patriarchal stereotypes, reductionism), and to make Jung’s insights compatible with modern understandings of gender and sexuality, we make the following assumptions in ABGT:

Most men have a predominantly male-androgynous personality structure, and most women have a predominantly female-androgynous personality structure. But there are also “female men” and “male women,” especially in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual) group. It also recognizes the existence of asexuals, who are believed to have a neutral-androgynous personality structure (see further section 7).
Every individual has both masculine and feminine aspects within them, and a healthy personality has a balance between the two.
Every individual has the possibility of developing androgynous personality traits that are “neutral” from the point of view of the opposition male/female. Developing these characteristics is very important for social relationships, especially for relationships other than sexual and romantic relationships.
While there is indeed an essence in the masculine and feminine aspects of consciousness, these are abstract archetypes; the way in which these abstractions take on concrete meaning in specific contexts is socially and culturally determined. This is a 50/50 relationship between form (archetype) and meaning (culture); thus, the role of culture is significant.
Male and female qualities and traits are different but equal and are an intrinsic part of consciousness and existence, and thus are not arranged in a hierarchy or vertical value system.
The SGI basically functions independently of the PGI and the TGI. ABGT is fully compatible with FGT through the concept of primary gender identity (PGI), which plays a central role in arriving at MotR(middle of the road) perspectives on formal gender and gender transition (see AGTRT-BF93). Through the concept of tertiary gender identity (TGI), ABGT can be connected to a variety of modern sociological insights about gender norms, gender roles and gender as performance; more on that later in blogs about the TGI.

Read more about the role played by the PGI in Formal Gender Theory (FGT):
Primary Gender Identity (PGI) matters in gender transition decisions

5. Patriarchal versus matriarchal socialization of SGI.

Thus, in ABGT, gender is used primarily to signify the masculine and feminine aspects of consciousness. It is argued that these two aspects produce different forms of knowledge, on the basis of which personality traits develop. Because every human being (regardless of physical gender or (primary) gender identity) has and can develop both male and female personality traits, the distinction between sex and gender is also useful in ABGT.

Masculinity and femininity can be arranged in consciousness in two ways in relation to each other: vertically and horizontally. This is referred to in ABGT as the two socialization modes of the SGI: in the case of vertical arrangement, there is patriarchal socialization, and in the case of horizontal arrangement, there is matriarchal socialization (see AGTRT-BA9).

These two modes of socialization result from the fact that masculinity and femininity are two different forms of knowledge. Masculinity is a method of arriving at traceable objective knowledge that can be imposed on others, while femininity is a method of arriving at inner wisdom that can only be experienced individually and thus cannot be imposed.

Masculinity and femininity in consciousness can thus relate to each other in two ways:

Patriarchal ordering of knowledge: cognitive knowledge (masculinity) is split from inner wisdom (femininity) and sets what the frameworks are within which that wisdom can manifest. Cognitive knowledge is seen as more reliable: objectivity is valued more than subjectivity. So there is a vertical arrangement of masculine and feminine knowledge (or masculinity and femininity).
Matriarchal ordering of knowledge: cognitive knowledge (masculinity) is integrated with inner wisdom (femininity): both forms of knowledge are seen as different but equal and a balance is sought between what can be traceably reasoned and what can be experienced internally. Thus, there is a horizontal ranking of masculine and feminine knowledge (or masculinity and femininity).

In summary, ABGT states that each human can produce knowledge in two ways (male and female), and that these two ways of knowledge production are arranged patriarchally (vertically) or matriarchally (horizontally) in consciousness. That explains the origin of the two socialization modes of SGI mentioned above: patriarchal and matriarchal. SGI’s socialization mode then determines what form TGI’s gender roles can take, but more on that in a later blog.

It is important to note for now that a matriarchal socialization does not mean that femininity is placed above masculinity. Indeed, that is an impossibility because of the nature of masculinity and femininity in consciousness. The kind of knowledge that produces femininity can only exist in the inner world and thus cannot be imposed.

Thus, female knowledge cannot come to dominate over male knowledge either. If an attempt is made to do so by, for example, argumentatively working out why inner feeling contains more truth than cognitive knowledge, that too is in itself an exercise in masculinity and therefore the knowledge is no longer feminine in nature. This is why a patriarchal system is oppressive, and a matriarchal system is not.

It is assumed in ABGT that Jung looked at the collective unconscious from a patriarchal position. That is, Jung did not describe in universal terms how the collective unconscious works in all cases, but described how the collective unconscious functions specifically for patriarchal human beings. This patriarchal configuration of the collective unconscious is the result of patriarchal socialization, as started 12,800 years ago with the Neolithic revolution (see the AGTRT-BA3 and AGTRT-BA4).

From then on, the heteronormative nuclear family has become increasingly prevalent in which one person (usually the man, but this can also be the woman) suppresses the feminine side and the other person (usually the woman, but this can also be the man) suppresses the masculine side, and in which they seek wholeness with each other in the form of dependency (codependency).

Such a patriarchal relationship is the result of patriarchal trauma. Such a relationship is characterized by two individuals splitting masculinity and femininity within themselves, valuing masculinity higher than femininity (see also AGTRT-BA4 and AGTRT-BA9)

ABGT assumes that humans before that time often lived in matriarchal relationships, with not the nuclear family but the tribe as the main form of society. In such a social context, no patriarchal trauma occurs and masculinity and femininity are not split from each other: not at the individual level and not at the relational level (see also AGTRT-BA9).

This has implications for how we relate to collective unconscious, and on how the elements of the collective unconscious are arranged (viewed from a matriarchal position):

In matriarchal context, all human beings have their masculine and feminine sides integrated into the personality: thus, there is then no Animus and no Anima.
In matriarchal context, there is also no Shadow, because this archetype is the result of repressed masculine or feminine aspects of consciousness caused by the splitting of masculinity and femininity in the personality.

Therefore, from a matriarchal position, the collective unconscious consists of four different archetypes than from a patriarchal position. These archetypes are: the Self, the Masculine, the Feminine and the Androgynous:

The Self: The Self represents the totality of the psyche, including the conscious and unconscious. It symbolizes the pursuit of wholeness, integration and individuation.
The Masculine: The Masculine refers to the differentiating quality of our consciousness and symbolizes masculine qualities, such as rationality, assertiveness and action.
The Feminine: the Feminine refers to the integrating quality of our consciousness and symbolizes feminine qualities, such as intuition, emotion and connection.
The Androgynous: The Androgynous refers to the transcendent quality of our consciousness and symbolizes androgynous qualities, such as self-reflection, balance and moderation.

In other words, in a matriarchal culture, each person’s Self is in complete harmony: the Masculine as well as the Feminine are fully developed and embraced, and that creates the possibility of developing the Androgynous, or the androgynous personality traits. How that works is discussed in the next section.

6. Androgynous personality traits

ABGT assumes that androgyny is at its core a mechanism of transformation and adaptation of consciousness that proceeds dialectically. That is, consciousness can grow and change through the confrontation between conflicting aspects of that consciousness. Masculinity and femininity are the most basic conflicting aspects of consciousness.

In ABGT it is assumed that the dialectical movement between masculinity and femininity is similar to the dialectical method described by Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in the first part of Wissenschaft der Logik: Lehre vom Sein (1812). This is a method by which Hegel provides insight into the development of ideas and concepts by describing how opposites can lead to synthesis.

Although Hegel does not explicitly formulate the confrontation between Sein and Nichtsein in terms of gender, from the perspective of ABGT it is obvious to look at it that way. Indeed, Hegel’s dialectical method can be seen as a method of describing knowledge development, and in ABGT masculinity and femininity are seen as two opposing forms of knowledge.

This yields the following equation:

Sein (being) can be connected to the feminine aspect of integration because it represents the positive presence of something, where different elements come together in unity. Sein implies a state of connection and unity, in which different aspects of reality are brought together.
Nichtsein (non-being) can be connected to the masculine aspect of differentiation because it represents the absence or lack of something. Nichtsein can be seen as the process of distinguishing, differentiating and defining boundaries between different entities or concepts.
Werden (becoming) can then finally be linked to the quality of androgyny: transcendence. Werden implies a dynamic process of change and development, overcoming contradictions and bringing them to a higher level of understanding. This process of transcendence goes beyond the limitations of the original thesis and antithesis and leads to a synthesis that is more encompassing than either.

In ABGT, androgynous personality traits are those that look beyond the boundaries of the known and existing of masculinity and femininity, and in the context of dialectics, Werden represents just that. Werden allows for constant evolution and growth toward a new understanding that transcends contradictions and offers a deeper understanding of the nature of reality.

The development of this kind of personality trait, according to ABGT, is possible only when male and female knowledge production is “horizontally aligned”; in other words, when the SGI is in matriarchal socialization mode. This is because androgyny needs the duality of masculinity and femininity to develop.

A person whose SGI is in patriarchal socialization mode may have developed both masculine and feminine traits, but has not integrated these traits into the personality because of the presence of the Shadow. As a result, the dialectical interaction between male and female knowledge production cannot be properly initiated. Developing androgynous personality traits is possible for them only through shadow work (see AGTRT-BA8).

If a person develops both male and female personality traits and also integrates them into the personality through shadow work, the androgynous personality traits will develop naturally. These personality traits are also called neutral personality traits in analytic psychology, elaborated by Carl Jung and others in Psychological Types (1921).

Androgynous personality traits are traits that are not necessarily positive or negative, but rather considered neutral or ambivalent. Some examples of these characteristics are:

Everyday habits and routines: such as drinking coffee in the morning, following a set daily routine, or having certain rituals before bedtime.
Moderation: the ability to balance extremes, for example, in emotions, behaviors or thought patterns.
Restraint: the ability to weigh and consider before taking action, and to avoid impulsive reactions.
General common sense: the ability to think and act practically and logically in various situations.
Impartiality: the ability to be objective and fair in assessing situations and people, without prejudice or bias.
Self-control: the ability to control impulses and resist temptations, and to act in a disciplined manner.
Self-reflection: the ability to evaluate and analyze one’s own thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and to understand how they affect one’s self and others.
Inconspicuousness: the ability to be modest and not feel the need to be constantly in the spotlight or attract attention.

Androgynous or neutral personality traits are general human characteristics that are independent of traditional gender roles or stereotypes. These traits are an integral part of personality and can be found in people of all genders and backgrounds.

In conclusion, the integration of the opposite aspects of consciousness, Animus and Anima can lead to a more balanced and complete personality. This process of integration is called individuation and thus, in practice, involves people becoming aware of both masculine and feminine traits within themselves.

As a result, androgynous personality traits may emerge to include aspects of both masculinity and femininity. On this basis, people can take androgynous gender roles in social interactions that are not strictly tied to traditional gender roles and that transcend the duality of masculinity and femininity.

In ABGT, as in Jungian thought, it is assumed that the pursuit of individuation and the integration of conflicting aspects of the psyche are essential for psychological growth and the attainment of a higher level of consciousness and self-realization.

At the same time, androgynous person characteristics cannot be understood as “better” than male and female person characteristics. The formation of androgynous personality traits is only a possibility of the human psyche that can only arise when an individual has fully explored and embraced their own masculine and feminine sides. Thus, androgyny does not replace masculine and feminine personality traits, but rather needs them in all their duality to develop (see also AGTRT-BA8).

7. Three androgynous personality types

In ABGT, every human being is seen as androgynous, but not in the same way. Three different androgynous personality types are distinguished:

The male-androgynous personality type. These are people with a predominantly male personality structure, but who also have the ability to develop female personality traits. This type is also called the “male SGI,” or SGI=m.
The female-androgynous personality type. These are people with a predominantly female personality structure, but who also have the potential to develop male personality traits. This type is also called the “female SGI,” or SGI=f.
The neutral-androgynous personality type. Those are people with a neutral personality structure, who will have to develop androgynous traits without exploring the duality of masculinity and femininity. This type is also called the “neutral SGI,” or SGI=n. It is hypothesized that asexual individuals have an SGI=n. There is no relationship between PGI=n and SGI=n: thus a correlation between neutral gender and asexuality cannot be assumed, only between SGI=n and asexuality.

Supposedly, most people have one of the first two androgynous personality types for the following reasons:

Although humans have evolved from evolutionary pressures for androgyny (see AGTRT-BA1 and AGTRT-BA2), they remain a creature that, like most other animals (as well as many plants), must reproduce sexually. This always involves sexual selection and thus sexual dimorphism, and thus a difference between the sexes.
In humans, males are more feminine than in the other major primate species, but they still tend to be more male than female. The same can be said of women, but in reverse.
Androgyny only emerged as “common ground,” a place where men and women can find each other to promote cooperation. Differences between the sexes out there still remain functional and relevant. Androgyny was not created to erase the difference between men and women, but to shape difference in such a way that horizontal cooperation becomes possible.

About the androgynous personality types, ABGT takes the following positions:

Most people have either a male or a female SGI, and which of the two androgynous personality types it is is established at an early age.
The androgynous personality type is linked to sexual orientation in the following way:
- (Cisgender) heterosexual men always have SGI=m.
- (Cisgender) heterosexual women always have SGI=f.
- (Cisgender) LGB individuals can have an SGI=m or an SGI=f, regardless of their biological sex (i.e. regardless of their physical gender).
- Of asexual individuals, it can be hypothesized that they may have an SGI=n, which means that libidinal energy and sexual attraction do not play a role in them.
The relationship between the SGI and sexual orientation is assumed on the basis that the SGI ultimately serves “sexual coupling” according to the principle of polarity, which plays a major role in ABGT.
Developing awareness about which SGI a person has is important, because a person with SGI=m doing shadow work comes out at a different point than a person with SGI=f. For example, there is a big difference between a person with SGI=m who needs to develop and integrate some feminine qualities, and a person with SGI=f who has yet to figure out that the whole personality structure is predominantly feminine.
The SGI plays an important role not only in gender identity, but also in sexuality. There, the SGI determines the way libidinal energy flows in a relationship. Herein the principle of polarity is decisive: people with SGI=m are naturally attracted to the dominant role in sexual play, and people with SGI=f are generally attracted to the submissive role in sexual play. How this sexual (libidinal) energy takes shape in socio-romantic relationships determines the kinds of gender roles that can be taken in TGI (more on that in a future blog).

8. Conclusion

Secondary gender identity (SGI) is a central concept in ABGT. This concept describes people’s androgynous personality structure and how it develops. In doing so, the following assumptions are central:

Humans have evolved as matriarchal species as a result of selection pressures for androgyny, a development that has occurred primarily in secondary gender identity (SGI).
It makes sense to distinguish between three layers of gender identity: primary, secondary and tertiary, abbreviated as PGI, SGI and TGI. The PGI relates to the body and is primarily biological, the SGI relates to consciousness and is primarily psychological, and the TGI relates to social relationships and is primarily sociological. Together, these three aspects make up the Androgyny-Based Gender Identity (ABGI).
Androgyny in humans is manifested by the fact that individuals with SGI=m have the ability to develop female personality traits, and those with SGI=f have the ability to develop male personality traits.
Most people have a male or female SGI, abbreviated as SGI=m and SGI=f. In a single case, a person may have an SGI=n.
Due to patriarchal socialization, masculinity and femininity are split from each other in consciousness, and through shadow work, people can work on developing their androgynous personalities.
Based on the Jungian exploration of archetypes in the collective unconscious, certain statements can be made about the nature of masculinity and femininity in consciousness without falling into the pitfalls known from essentialism.
Masculinity and femininity are ultimately seen as two different modes of knowledge production, with masculinity producing traceable cognitive-rational knowledge and femininity producing emotional-intuitive knowledge. These two forms of knowledge relate to each other vertically in patriarchal socialization, and horizontally in matriarchal socialization.
Androgyny is a mechanism of transformation and adaptation of consciousness that works through a dialectical mechanism between the Masculine and Feminine archetypes in the collective unconscious. This mechanism works only when the SGI is in matriarchal socialization mode.
In the most abstract terms, the quality of masculinity, femininity and androgyny can be expressed as differentiation, integration and transcendence.
People are capable of developing androgynous personality traits that transcend the duality between masculinity and femininity in consciousness. However, this can only be done by fully acknowledging and exploring duality (through shadow work), not by setting it aside.
The SGI and sexual orientation are linked: the SGI ultimately serves sexual coupling. The SGI can be seen as the central mechanism behind sexual selection, more on that in future blogs.
The description of ABGT contains a complete list of the hypotheses posed within the theory.