Is the androgynous mind possible?

Woolf warns in her essay "Androgyny" that consciousness of sex destroys. She quotes Coleridge as saying that the great mind is androgynous, and this is how gender in writing should look. This interpretation of literature can be seen as both feminist and antifeminist. It is feminist in that it is claiming that the male writer needs to be in touch with his "feminine side" or feminine part of his brain to writer well. He cannot do without it. He must be man-womanly. In this sense, women are on par with men; they are not their subordinates. It implies that the women entering literature do more than fill up an absence. They bring their preception of the world to literature, expanding what it is and opening up a whole new reality of it. However, this idea of the androgynous mind can be seen as antifeminist as well because it places a dependence on men for good writing as well. The woman seeks to be woman-manly thus needing the man. Many feminists want to separate completely from men, developing their own reality and identity apart from them. Woolf's androgynous mind does not let this happen. She seems to set a trap for herself in that she relies on men. She urges women to rise to the level men are already at in literature, so as to be equal, yet that is still setting masculinity as the standard. Why cant men rise to meet the feminine standard? Why is it that, with the implication of attainment of the androgynous mind, women need to tap into their masculine side to fully experience themselves? Can they not fully experience themselves without realizing their masculinity? True, Woolf may say that men need to tap into their feminine side to fully experience their reality, but I think the implication is directed at women. In her essay, "A Room of One's Own," Woolf focuses on what could have been for Shakespeare's hypothetical sister, yet she models the sister's potential literary greatness after that of a male, Shakespeare. Judith reads and writes just like Shakespeare but is not socially accepted because of it. She excels in the masculine standard of writing of that time, but why does she not write in her own preception and reality apart from Shakespeare? She is simply trying to mimic the dominant masculine structure already set in place. That is no good, though I think Woolf's argument would be that recognition of sex in writing is no good, though that agrument is weak. Woolf doesnt want Judith to realize her femininity as she writes, though wouldnt she not want Judith to recognize her masculinity as she writes either. Yet this is precisely what Judith is doing when she thinks of the success of her brother and how it is not acceptable to be like him.

My point is that I do not believe the androgynous mind can be attained. I think Woolf is vague in her push for it because how can one be unconscious of one's own sex when she is writing? What on earth does that look like? Who am I in terms of masculinity? What is masculinity? How is its definition, along with that of femininity, a concrete, socially accepted definition? I think gender is so subjective and elusive, unlike sex. Am I writing as masculine when I write about my agression towards others? Am I writing as feminine when I say I want to care for my sick sister or hurting friend? Who defines these things? Also, I think we need to go back to the consciousness of sex thing when writing. Ok, maybe Im not thinking about my sex when Im writing but Im certainly thinking about my gender, right? I write in a circular structure: feminine. I write about my apprehension to have sexual thoughts: feminine. I write about my fear of speaking my mind: feminine. Yet, I feel like Im going in a circle because I just said that gender cannot be defined. So why do I have to label my writing as gender specific? Can we do this? Is it possible? Is the whole school of feminist theory so vague and subjective? How can we really pinpoint gender if we are only going on the social constructs of gender? Should we place value in a social construct? Where else can we look to be informed of gender?