This is not a which is a better thread. I just want to know that to you personally, what does it mean to be masculine and feminine? Every time I think about this I get a headache and the line between femininity and masculinity starts to blurr :lol: Let disregard stereotypical behaviors such as men are tasteless slob and women are cat-crazy and tell me your answers.
I'm looking forward to reading the responses to this thread. I asked myself this same question in December, even wrote it down in my blog, because it was troubling me. My aunt bought me a t-shirt for Christmas. She said to my mom, "I wasn't sure it would be her style, since Lyana is pretty feminine, but I hope she likes it." And I love it, but that's not the point. The point is, I agree, I'm feminine, but how am I feminine? Is it my long hair? The fact that I sometimes wear skirts? I mean, you obviously can't reduce femininity to that. I have a friend that I see as distinctly feminine. She has short hair, never wears skirts or make-up or a purse. She's been told she walks like a man. And I just don't see it. She loves being a woman, she owns being a woman, she's self-confident and comfortable with it, and that's what makes her feminine to me. I think the words "femininity" and "masculinity" are too closely linked to gender expectations to mean anything anymore. And I hate the fact that a "feminine man" or "masculine woman" is always going to be seen, by society, as something wrong. What makes that guy feminine, anyway? Why can't he just be himself, without the traits being associated to a whole gender? There are no traits that are common to a gender as a whole. Anyway... yeah, looking forward to reading more in this thread.
Femininity is having the qualities of women, masculinity is having the qualities of men. What that actually entails is up to you.
Never really got it either... I'd say that the more masculine you are the closer you are from the macho man cliché. And the more feminine you are the closer you are from the caring housewife cliché.
Yeah, I don't even know anymore. For me it's just about societal stereotypes. I call myself "feminine" because I match many stereotypes of women. But I don't think that many of these traits transcend society or go any deeper than being norms and stereotypes.
Don't even understand why we as a community still use words defined by stereotypes. This is why I am so confused and so intrigued by the concept of gender.
A lot of it varies among cultures, but I'll try to list some aspects that seem to be quite universal. Masculine, is traits like dominance, assertiveness, and (both physical and mental) strength. Feminine, is traits like gentleness, compassion, sensitivity, and sympathy. However just because someone is "feminine" or "masculine" does not nessesarily make them female or male
I dislike those words. I don't know why; I just do. There's no universal definition and being what a society defines as either 'masculine' or 'feminine' doesn't mean you're a man or a woman, respectively.
NingyoBroken stated it well. I'd add, there's a bittersweet irony to these two concepts. For those who align and feel comfortable with their sex, they can pick and choose, and usually always be perceived as who they are in terms of sex; if they dabble between the two. But for trans-folk, who can detest stereotypes and dislike being put into a box, often times, we have to utilize and rely on those definitions, if we want to pass, because many individuals, for their own reasons, still do cling to them, when making an assumption or belief about somebody. It's a little extra weight, so to speak, to tip the scale to what we, or want to, identify as. Some can pull it off, and others, well... you already know that part of the story.
