Femininity

Femininity is a set of roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a society generally associates with women and girls. Femininity is socially constructed and distinct from biological female sex. What traits are associated with femininity depend on a variety of social and cultural factors, and often vary depending on location and context. Women, men, and transgender people can all exhibit feminine traits.

The complement to femininity is masculinity.

History

Modern notions of femininity began during the English medieval period at the time of the bubonic plague in the 1300s. Women in the Middle Ages were referred to simply as maiden, wife, or widow. According to English Common Law, all property a wife held at the time of marriage transferred to her husband, and as late as 1537, according to the translated version of the Matthew Bible, it was perfectly acceptable for a husband to beat his wife into submission. After the Black Death in England wiped out approximately half of the population, traditional gender roles of wife and mother changed and opportunities opened up for women in society. The concept of "woman" changed in a number of ways and new language had to be created to describe these roles, with words like femininity and womanhood.

Behavior and personality

See also: Sex and psychology

While the defining characteristics of femininity are not universally identical, some patterns exist. Gentleness, empathy, sensitivity, nurturance, deference, and succorance are behaviors traditionally considered feminine. The feminine nature has often been considered more emotional and less logical than the masculine nature. Often, this is considered to be a misogynistic insult. Many sources object to the logic/emotion gender distinction.

Femininity can be asserted to be linked with sex and sexual appeal. Sexual passiveness, or sexual reception, is sometimes considered feminine while sexual assertiveness and sexual desire is sometime considered masculine behaviors. This is an example of stereotyping.

An ongoing debate with regards to sex and psychology is the extent to which gender identity and gender-specific behavior is due to socialization versus in-born factors. The mainstream view is that both factors play a role, but the relative importance of each is contentious. For example, some studies suggest that women tend to perform better on empathy tests than men, though others have found no sex differences in empathy. Some related studies suggest that empathy performance may be related to the subject's perceived gender identity and gender expectations. Some researchers argue that because differences in empathy disappear on tests where it is not clear that empathy is being studied, men and women do not differ in ability, but instead in how empathetic they would like to appear to themselves and others. Simon Baron-Cohen argues that there is a high capacity for empathy in women caused by biological factors, though his studies have been criticized by Cordelia Fine, who argues that there is no evidence for biological behavioral differences. Other researchers, such as Diane F. Halpern, argue that small innate differences are exaggerated socially and culturally to create gender.

Mary Vetterling-Braggin argues that all characteristics associated with femininity arose from early human sexual encounters which were mainly male-forced and female-unwilling, because of male and female anatomical differences. Others, such as Carole Pateman, Ria Kloppenborg, and Wouter J. Hanegraaff, argue that the definition of femininity is the result of how females must behave in order to maintain a patriarchal social system.

Occupational roles

Teacher in a classroom in Madagascar. Teaching is often considered a feminine occupation.

Main article: Gender roles

Several stereotypes about women have influenced what occupations are associated with femininity. These stereotypes include that women have a caring nature, have skill at household-related work, have greater manual dexterity than men, are more honest than men, and have a more attractive physical appearance. Occupational roles associated with these stereotypes include: midwife, teacher, accountant, data entry clerk, cashier, salesperson, receptionist, housekeeper, cook, maid, social worker, and nurse.

Early computer programmers were women. This has reversed in recent decades, however, with programming being perceived as a masculine occupation.

In the field of medicine, the role of physician was traditionally seen as masculine, while the role of nurse was considered feminine. These associations are now considered outdated in much of the world, although certain specializations, such as surgery and emergency medicine, are still dominated by a masculine culture.

Leadership has historically been associated with masculine traits in Western cultures. Although gender discrimination is illegal in the U.S., many people argue they have been discriminated against because of the traits perceived to be associated with their sex. For the past decade, Walmart has been ensconced in a class action suit to that effect.

Alternatively, some people have argued for the distinction between "feminine"-style leadership and "masculine"-style leadership. Within this viewpoint, leadership that focuses on help and cooperation is considered "feminine" and leadership associated with focusing on tasks and control is considered "masculine." It is worth noting this classification system is not part of U.S. anti-discrimination law.

Explanations for occupational imbalance

It has been argued that primary sex characteristics of men and women, such as the ability to bear children, caused a historical sexual division of labor and gender stereotypes evolved culturally to perpetuate this division.

The practice of bearing children tends to interrupt the continuity of employment. According to human capital theory, this retracts from the female investment in higher education and employment training. Richard Anker of the International Labour Office argues human capital theory does not explain the sexual division of labor because many occupations tied to feminine roles, such as administrative assistance, require more knowledge, experience, and continuity of employment than unskilled masculinized occupations, such as truck driving. Anker argues the feminization of certain occupations limits employment options for women.

Role Congruity Theory, which proposes that people tend to view deviations from expected roles negatively, supports the empirical evidence that gender discrimination exists in areas traditionally associated with one gender or the other.

Religion

Yin and yang

In Taoism, the concept of yin represents the primary force of the female half of yin and yang. The yin is also present, to a smaller proportion, in the male half. The yin can be characterized as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse, cold, wet, and passive. In Hindu traditions, Shakti is the divine feminine creative power, the sacred force that moves through the entire universe. She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect, which represents consciousness or discrimination, remains impotent and void. In Hinduism, the universal creative force Yoni is feminine, with inspiration being the life force of creation.

In Hebrew language, the divine presence of God, the Holy Spirit, the Shekhinah is feminine. In Kabbalah, Binah is the great mother, the feminine receiver of energy and giver of form.

Feminine athleticism

Main article: Women's_sports

Clothing and appearance

Main article: Stereotype

In some cultures, cosmetics are associated with femininity

Cultural standards vary a great deal on what is considered feminine. For example, in 16th Century France, high heels were considered a masculine type of shoe, though they are currently considered feminine.

In Ancient Egypt, sheath and beaded net dresses were considered female clothing, while wraparound dresses, perfumes, cosmetics, and elaborate jewelry were worn by both men and women. In Ancient Persia, clothing was generally unisex, though women wore veils and headscarves. Women in Ancient Greece wore himations; and in Ancient Rome women wore the palla, a rectangular mantle, and the maphorion.

The typical feminine outfit of aristrocratic women of the Renaissance was an undershirt with a gown and a high-waisted overgown, and a plucked forehead and beehive or turban-style hairdo.

Body alteration

Main article: Body alteration

Body alteration is the deliberate altering of the human body for aesthetic or non-medical purpose. One such purpose has been to induce perceived feminine characteristics in women.

For centuries in Imperial China, smaller feet were considered to be a more aristocratic characteristic in women. The practice of foot binding was intended to enhance this characteristic, though it often made walking difficult and painful.

In a few parts of Africa and Asia, neck rings are worn in order to elongate the neck. In these cultures, a long neck is characterizes feminine beauty. The rings stretch the vertebrae until a person's neck can no longer support her head. This ironically disabling aspect is particularly troubling to humanitarian aid workers.

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  In China until 1911, tiny, bound feet for women were considered aristocratic and feminine
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  The Kayan people of Burma (Myanmar) associate the wearing of neck rings with feminine beauty.

Feminist views

See also: Feminism

Feminist philosophers such as Judith Butler contend that femininity and masculinity are created through repeated performances of gender; these performances reproduce and define the traditional categories of sex and/or gender.

Many second-wave feminists reject what they regard as constricting standards of female beauty, created for the subordination and objectifying of women and self-perpetuated by reproductive competition and women's own aesthetics.

Others, such as third-wave feminists and lipstick feminists, argue that feminism shouldn't devalue feminine culture and identity, and that symbols of feminine identity such as make-up, suggestive clothing and having a sexual allure can be valid and empowering personal choices for both sexes.

Jungian psychology

In Carl Jung's school of analytical psychology, the concept of anima represents the female half of anima and animus. In Jungian psychology, archetypes are unlearned tendencies and a part of the collective unconscious The main feminine archetypes originally introduced by Carl Jung and often adopted in literature are patterns of behavior that follow the biological life cycle of the woman and fall into the following roles:

• The Maiden
• The Mother
• The Crone
• The Queen

Femininity in men

Main article: Effeminacy

RuPaul, a famous drag queen.

Men who behave in ways associated with femininity may be called effeminate. Men who wear clothing associated with femininity are cross-dressers. A drag queen is a man who wears women's clothing and behaves in an extremely feminine manner for entertainment purposes.

Femininity is not necessarily related to a man's sexuality, though male femininity is often associated with homosexuality in modern Western culture.

The terms femiphobia, effeminophobia, and sissyphobia are sometimes used to describe a generally negative attitude displayed in many societies towards feminine men.

See also

• Feminine psychology
• Feminization (sociology)
• Gender studies
• Marianismo
• Nature versus nurture
• Sociology of gender