Carl Jung said that all personalities are made up of a female part and a male part, kind of like the Yin Yang symbol. The female part is Yin and a male part is Yang.
In the past, babies with female genitals were channeled toward Yin and usually ended up identifying with it. They became “girls” with female genitals and Yin personalities. Babies with male genitals were channeled toward Yang, identified with it, and became “boys” with male genitals and Yang personalities. Babies with both were usually given surgery and made into girls, inside and out. What Jung said next is very fascinating. Boys project their Yin onto girls and girls project their Yang onto boys. Because girls are not identified with their Yang and boys are not identified with their Yin it’s easy for them to project them onto the “opposite sex.” They then become attracted to the other and eventually bond in a sexual/romantic way. Finally together, they go on to create an orderly predictable family their society approves of.
However, as they get older they have a deep desire to become whole. They start missing the part they projected. In order to become whole they need the missing part so they bring back to their personality to the projected Yin or Yang. Then they integrate the two parts into wholeness, just like the Yin Yang symbol. From the outside it looks like a traditional man becoming softer and a traditional woman becoming stronger.
Enter gender fluidity.
Today people of all ages and bodies are rejecting rigid gender assignments and roles. Our culture is beginning to value the person who does not identify with only one gender. Today our culture is allowing and sometimes even encouraging people to move fluidly to and from many formerly rigid gender positions. It’s a beautiful thing to watch and be part of.
But, what does it mean for our personalities?
I believe that gender fluid people may never project and lose half of their personalities for most of their life. Being fluid means they move through and identify with all the different parts of their personality from the beginning. They do not wait for old age to be whole instead, they remain whole their entire life. And when they love and bond, instead of falling in love with their projection (themselves), they may connect to another whole person.
Fluidity isn’t automatic passage to a perfect life, but it gives everyone, especially the young, a much better chance at wholeness.
