For a guy? 1. Pink dress shirt (either Polo button down oxford or pale pink dress shirt) 2. Clogs, with jeans (like these, see picture): http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41BgY7ttM%2BL.jpg 3. Listening to mainstream pop or easy listening 4. Listening to dance music 5. Crossing your legs at the knee, if dressed up 6. Writing that is very neat Your weigh ins will not change my views, but I am clueless to current perception, either here or in other places in the world, so chime in because I'd like to hear current thought.
To me, masculinity and femininity are PERCEPTIONS. We are conditioned to think that men are supposed to adhere to certain rules and standards as are women. I don't think the above 6 criteria make a man any less or more masculine.
This. However... if you are questioning current perceptions by society in general, I'd say they're all somewhat feminine to a degree. But not nearly to the degree that they used to be. The whole metrosexual thing going on over the past decade has jammed my gaydar!
The only one I would think people may consider feminine is the leg crossing but it really is a matter of perception. For me I would say it's a neutral thing but I tend to see more of it in a business/professional setting. The rest I don't really see how they lean to either masculine or feminine.
I'm guilty of them all, but the clogs and jeans.(Can't stand clogs) I always found it interesting that most people that consider crossing legs to be feminine, tend to not notice when it is done by men in suits. It seems a bit nonsensical. I just don't have the time to care about adhering to the male archetype.
1. Pink dress shirt (either Polo button down oxford or pale pink dress shirt) 2. Clogs, with jeans (like these, see picture): http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41BgY7ttM+L.jpg 3. Listening to mainstream pop or easy listening 4. Listening to dance music 5. Crossing your legs at the knee, if dressed up 6. Writing that is very neat 1. Somewhere in the middle I'd say. It's probably not the first choice for the average cis-heterosexual man, but I don't think it would gather that many looks either. Shades of pink, especially the lighter and fleshy tones, are fashionable. 2. Masculine. But as a side-note, I find those particular shoes absolutely hideous. 3. Honestly I don't know what mainstream pop is nowadays so I can't answer this one. 4. Neither masculine nor feminine I'd say. 5. I've seen many suave, masculine men do this so I can't say it isn't masculine. 6. It depends on the type. I think a neat but cursive handwriting is feminine, where as a handwriting that is clean, straight and simple, is masculine. I stopped perceiving things and people as masculine and feminine a long while ago. I tried to fit these into what I think is often perceived though.
Thanks, folks, and the item-by-item analysis by Morphim. I like all of these things. I've actually only gotten comments on 3, 4, and 6. On 3, it was about butching up the music I listened to. On 4, I got the stereotype about dance music. And on 6, it was a raising of the eyebrows. I like other people's neat writing, so I write neatly too. One time, I walked into a European chocolate shop and paid by check. I wrote it out and the elderly lady at the register who was from Denmark or Germany said "You write so neat ... for a man." The tone wasn't complimentary. I took the box of chocolates and thought "eff you." But, you're right, these shouldn't matter but it seems there are some perceptions attached, though fewer. And, darn, on a cold or cool day, the jeans, a sweater, and those clogs are so damn comfortable!
6. Writing that is very neat. I have a friend who is a total manly man. He fixes cars, plays sports, never shows emotion, always wears sports gear, and is super buff. Yet he has the prettiest handwriting I've ever seen. Masculine and feminine really is just about perception.
Neat handwriting is one thing. Huge, balloonish, cursive handwriting is 100% girly. Otherwise, no, none of them seem terribly girly to me.
Funny. How about a very neat version of textbook cursive? It has some curves and swoops here and there. I just retained the penmanship I was taught as a kid.
