Venus as a Boy. I love that song, it just oozes hot yummy sex. Go treat yourself and have a listen. It’s ok, I’ll wait right here…
The dude in that song is clearly confident, aesthetically driven, and a fine lover of women. Maybe you’ve known someone like him, I’ve been lucky to, but the song isn’t about a man inspired by Venus, it is really about a woman who has been touched by the Goddess through the touch of a man. He “sets off the beauty in her”. How awesome is that?
As I’ve noted before, Aphrodite is generally portrayed as the highest of High Femmes. Although I admit to being a bit of a power femme myself (I’m just drawn that way), I find that I really do not want to keep her there. Sure, it can be useful for me to see her and work with her that way sometimes (like when I’m adding to my sacred boot collection), but since I want to see her in All, I quite enjoy it when she shows up in other forms. I feel with the right lens, we can see her float effortlessly along the gender spectrum.
I have several different friends on the masculine end of the spectrum who show me her male face. One dear friend is simply devoted to Beauty. Not only are he and his partner just gorgeous specimens of humanity, but almost every act in which he is engaged serves to bring beauty to the world and to foster aesthetic sensibilities whether he is engaged in his art, being gracious to guests, or in the loving creation of his home. He is also kind, warm and laughs easily and carelessly, as does Aphrodite Philomedes, “Laughter Loving Aphrodite”. I also am fortunate to be in the company of a number of breathtaking Beau Brummels and bon vivants who love to dress well (this is a trend of which I am quite approving), drink well, and who cultivate hospitality. These men don’t have altars to Aphrodite in their homes, they are not “officially” dedicated to her as deity but they are doing her work by being her face in the world. And when I am in their company I am blessed by her. And I have certainly seen and known woman identified beautiful butch Aphrodites who have made my heart flutter.
I think it’s essential in knowing a deity to be able to free them of their gender restraints as we might also want to be freed from them. How butch can this Goddess get for us? How oiled, sweaty and calloused? How leather clad? How many different ways do you see Aphrodite? Who touches you as the Goddess, and how do you honor that? If you identify more strongly on the masculine end of the spectrum, how do you wear her and be her?