Practical Androgyny

Androgynous model Andrej Pejic known for modeling both male and female fashions is interviewed by ABC News about ‘taking androgyny mainstream’:

The difference is that he is still biologically a man. Pejic said he does not take hormones to alter his appearance, and he has never had to shave his face.

“I prayed to God and it worked,” he said.

While he does consider himself to fall under the transgender umbrella, Pejic said he has no plans to undergo any surgeries.

“I feel comfortable the way I am,” he said. “I don’t feel the need to alter my body significantly.”

Happy in his own skin, Pejic readily admits that his look doesn’t just blur the line between male and female, it seems to erase it. The runway is now dominated by flat-chested, rail-thin giants like him.

When asked if he saw himself as a man or a woman, Pejic responded, “I see myself,” adding that he doesn’t see gender.

“Women are sexier than men,” he said. “With every species, there is always a gender that is more extravagant, and in humans that is women. … There is hair, there is skin, there is just more to show the beauty.”

Pejic and his family moved to Australia when he was 8 after his parents divorced, escaping ethnic-war-ravaged Yugoslavia.

I grew up in a refugee camp in Serbia,” he said. “My mum was Serbian and my dad was Croatian.”

He said he was 3 or 4 years old when he first put on women’s clothing and, even away from the cameras, Pejic said he is more comfortable wearing female fashions over menswear.

“Like any other kid, except for cowboy outfits, it was something else,” Pejic said.

All he saw was “a child,” he said, not a gender. A modeling agency discovered Pejic while he was working at a McDonald’s. They knew he wasn’t the classic alpha male, and Pejic soon crossed over into women’s wear.

Fashion designer Jean Paul Gautier put him in a wedding gown for showing his 2011 spring collection. Gender confusion is precisely what Pejic’s “It Girl” status depends on.

“Now, I tend to use the women’s room because it’s a lot less complicated,” he said. “When I try to use the men’s room it’s like, ‘Please leave,’ when I want to go to the toilet. I don’t want to go through the whole process.”

More friendly than flirtatious, Pejic said he’ll chat with both men and women while out in public, but remained coy about his sexual identity and his romantic life.

“For me, love has no boundaries,” he said.

View the video interview and read the full article at ABC News (NB, the video introduction doesn’t respect Andrej’s genderless identity and the interview is not all that sensitively worded and asks invasive questions about sexual preferences and activity)