Effeminacy

Effeminacy is character trait of a male showing femininity, unmanliness, womanliness, weakness, softness and/or a delicacy, which contradicts traditional male gender roles.

The term is used to describe feminine behaviour, demeanor, and appearance. These judgements largely involve anti-gay stereotypes, and a positive correlation presumed between effeminacy and gay men. It generally applied to men individually, but is sometimes used to describe entire societies, in a deliberately inflammatory general allegation. Further, some individuals may call something (even an object) "gay" to indicate that it is seen to be effeminate.

In contrast to this, effeminacy is often seen simply as one characteristic or trait which may or may not be a part of a male gender role, and in this sense not considered a vice or indicative of any other characteristics.

The converse equivalent of effeminacy in women is masculinity. An informal term for masculine women is "butch", which is associated with lesbianism. "Butch" is also used within the lesbian community, often without a negative connotation, but sometimes with a more specific meaning (13). Note, again, that the adoption of attitudes normally associated with the opposite sex is perceived as a sign of homosexuality.

Acceptance by society

In most cultures, it was traditionally considered, if not a vice, at least a weakness, indicative of other negative character traits and more recently often involving a negative insinuation of homosexual tendencies. However, there have been times in history when behaviors that would now be considered effeminate were considered normal behavior in certain parts of society (see for instance the demeanor and clothing of the minions of the court of Henry III of France).

History

Etymology

Effeminacy comes from the Latin, "ex" which is "out" and "femina" which means woman; it basically means for a man to be like a woman. The Latin term for the vice is "mollites".

A Greek word that approaches one modern meaning of effeminate is kinaidos (or cinaedus), a man "whose most salient feature was a supposedly "feminine" love of being sexually penetrated by other men." (14) However, "cinaedus is not actually anchored in that specific sexual practice....It refers instead to a man who has an identity as gender deviant." (15) Kinaidos is malakos, but malakos is more general effeminacy (16).

Other contemporary words for effeminacy include: "pansy", "nelly", "pussy", and "girl" (when applied to a boy or, especially, adult man). Contrastingly, a masculine girl would be called a "tomboy" or, less commonly, anti-gay slurs. The word effete similarly means effeminacy or over-refinedness but comes from the latin effetus, from ex- + fetus (fruitful).

Among Ancient Mediterranean masculinity was considered a difficult accomplishment, and thus kinaidos where those who gave up and succumbed to the temptation to pleasure, a feminine trait.

It was also considered effeminate for a man to be penetrated, especially by someone of a lower class. Taking an inappropriate sexual position in same-gender sex was considered effeminate unnatural in much the same way that taking any position in same-gender sex is disparaged today.

The Bible

Malakos is listed among other vices 1 Cor. 6:9. "The JB (1966) chooses "catamite," the NAB (1970) renders arsenokoités and malakos together as "sodomite," others translate malakos as "male prostitute" (NIV 1973, NRSV 1989), and again some combine both terms and offer the modem medicalized categories of sexual, or particularly homosexual, "perversion" (RSV 1946, TEV 1966, NEB 1970, REB 1992)." (16)

United States

To strengthen the argument of the "mechanics", Thomas Jefferson said something similar to Xenophon (see above):

"The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of pure government, as sores do to the strength of the human body. I consider the class of artificers as the panderers of vice, and the instruments by which the liberties of a country are generally overturned." (8)

• (13) "Oral History and the Study of Sexuality in the Lesbian Community"
• (14) The Constraints of Desire by John Winkler
• (15) Roman Homosexuality by Craig Williams
• (16) "Arsenokoités and Malakos" by Dale Martin

Bibliography

• On Virtues and Vices, Aristotle, trans. H. Rackham, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, l992. Vol. #285
• The Eudemian Ethics, Aristotle, trans. H. Rackham, Loeb Classical Library. Vol. #285
• Oxford English Dictionary, 20 vol. It has 75 references in English literature of over 500 years of usage of the word 'effeminate'.
• Davis, Madeline and Lapovsky Kennedy, Elizabeth (1989). "Oral History and the Study of Sexuality in the Lesbian Community", Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay & Lesbian Past (1990), Duberman, etc, eds. New York: Meridian, New American Library, Penguin Books. ISBN 0452010675.
• Winkler, John J. (1990). The Constraints of Desire: The Anthropology of Sex and Gender in Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge.
• Williams, Craig A. (1999). Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Martin, Dale B. (1996). "Arsenokoités and Malakos: Meanings and Consequences", Biblical Ethics & Homosexuality: Listening to Scripture, Robert L. Brawley, ed. Westminster John Knox Press. [1]