Effeminacy
Effeminacy or male femininity
Terminology
Effeminate comes from
Other vernacular words for effeminacy include: pansy, nelly, pretty boy, nancy boy, girly boy, molly, sissy, pussy, tomgirl, femboy,[4] roseboy, baby, and girl (when applied to a boy or, especially, adult man). The word effete similarly implies effeminacy or over-refinement, but comes from the Latin term effetus meaning 'having given birth; exhausted', from ex- and fetus 'offspring'. The term tomgirl, meaning a girlish boy, comes from an inversion of tomboy, meaning a boyish girl. The term girly boy comes from a gender-inversion of girly girl.
History
The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (September 2023) |
Ancient Greece and Rome
Greece
Greek historian Plutarch recounts that Periander, the tyrant of Ambracia, asked his "boy", "Aren't you pregnant yet?" in the presence of other people, causing the boy to kill him in revenge for being treated as if effeminate or a woman (Amatorius 768F).
When Aeschines was accused of treason by Athenians Timarchus and Demosthenes in 346 BC, he brought a counter suit claiming Timarchus had prostituted himself to (or been "kept" by) other men (Against Timarchus). He also attributed Demosthenes' nickname Batalos ("arse") to his "unmanliness and kinaidiā" and frequently commented on his "unmanly and womanish temper", even criticising his clothing: "If anyone took those dainty little coats and soft shirts off you... and took them round for the jurors to handle, I think they'd be quite unable to say, if they hadn't been told in advance, whether they had hold of a man's clothing or a woman's."[5]
In ancient Koine Greek, the word for effeminate is κίναιδος kinaidos (
A cinaedus is a man who cross-dresses or flirts like a girl. Indeed, the word's etymology suggests an indirect sexual act emulating a promiscuous woman. This term has been borrowed from the Greek kinaidos (which may itself have come from a language of
Asia Minor, primarily signifying a purely effeminate dancer who entertained his audiences with a tympanum or tambourine in his hand, and adopted a lascivious style, often suggestively wiggling his buttocks in such a way as to suggest anal intercourse....The primary meaning of cinaedus never died out; the term never became a dead metaphor."[7]
The late Greek[a] Erôtes ("Loves", "Forms of Desire", "Affairs of the Heart"), preserved with manuscripts by Lucian, contains a debate "between two men, Charicles and Callicratidas, over the relative merits of women and boys as vehicles of male sexual pleasure." Callicratidas, "far from being effeminised by his sexual predilection for boys... Callicratidas's inclination renders him hypervirile... Callicratidas's sexual desire for boys, then, makes him more of a man; it does not weaken or subvert his male gender identity but rather consolidates it." In contrast, "Charicles' erotic preference for women seems to have had the corresponding effect of effeminising him: when the reader first encounters him, for example, Charicles is described as exhibiting 'a skillful use of cosmetics, so as to be attractive to women.'"
Rome
Over-refinement, fine clothes and other possessions, the company of women, certain trades, and too much fondness with women were all deemed effeminate traits in Roman society. Taking an inappropriate sexual position, passive or "
Roman consul Scipio Aemilianus questioned one of his opponents, P. Sulpicius Galus: "For the kind of man who adorns himself daily in front of a mirror, wearing perfume; whose eyebrows are shaved off; who walks around with plucked beard and thighs; who when he was a young man reclined at banquets next to his lover, wearing a long-sleeved tunic; who is fond of men as he is of wine: can anyone doubt that he has done what cinaedi are in the habit of doing?"[10]
Roman orator Quintilian described, "The plucked body, the broken walk, the female attire," as "signs of one who is soft [mollis] and not a real man."[11]
For Roman men masculinity also meant self-control, even in the face of painful emotions, illnesses, or death. Cicero says, "There exist certain precepts, even laws, that prohibit a man from being effeminate in pain,"[12] and Seneca adds, "If I must suffer illness, it will be my wish to do nothing out of control, nothing effeminately."[13]
Emperor/philosopher
In his Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar wrote that the Belgians were the bravest of all Gauls because "merchants least frequently resort to them, and import those things which tend to effeminate the mind".[14]
Emperor Marcus Aurelius evidently considered effeminacy an undesirable trait, but it is unclear what or who was being referred to.[15]
Gay men
China
The Chinese term for 'girlie men' is niang pao.
In September 2021, the Associated Press reported that the mainland Chinese government has banned effeminate men from appearing in television commercials. The Chinese government instructed broadcasters to stop showing "sissy men".[16][17]
United States
In the United States, boys are often homosocial,[18] and gender role performance determines social rank.[19] While gay boys receive the same enculturation, they are less compliant. Martin Levine summarizes: "Harry (1982, 51–52), for example, found that 42 percent of his gay respondents were 'sissies' during childhood. Only 11 percent of his heterosexual samples were gender-role nonconformists. Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith (1981, 188) reported that half of their male homosexual subjects practised gender-inappropriate behaviour in childhood. Among their heterosexual men, the rate of noncompliance was 25 percent. Saghir and Robins (1973, 18) found that one-third of their gay man respondents conformed to gender role dictates. Only 3 percent of their heterosexual men deviated from the norm." Thus effeminate boys, or sissies, are physically and verbally harassed (Saghir and Robins, 1973, 17–18; Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith 1981, 74–84), causing them to feel worthless[20] and "de-feminise".[20][21][22]
Before the
There is a definite prejudice towards men who use femininity as part of their palette; their emotional palette, their physical palette. Is that changing? It's changing in ways that don't advance the cause of femininity. I'm not talking frilly-laced pink things or Hello Kitty stuff. I'm talking about goddess energy, intuition and feelings. That is still under attack, and it has gotten worse.
After Stonewall, "
The term effeminiphobia (sometimes effemiphobic, as used by Randy P. Conner) was coined by Will Fellows to describe strong anti-effeminacy.
Modern context
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Femboy (alternatively spelled femboi
While the term can be used as a slur towards
See also
- Androgyny
- Bakla
- Bishōnen
- En femme
- Ergi
- Femininity
- Gender bender
- Gender variance
- Genderqueer
- Gynomorph
- Herbivore men
- Kkonminam
- Metrosexual
- Non-binary gender
- Otokonoko
- Queer
- Queer heterosexuality
- Sex and gender distinction
- Social construction of gender
- Third gender
- Transgender
- Two-spirit
Notes
- ^ possibly c. fourth century
References
- ^ Hoskin R. A. “Femininity? It’s the aesthetic of subordination”: Examining femmephobia, the gender binary, and experiences of oppression among sexual and gender minorities // Archives of sexual behavior. – 2020. – V. 49. – №. 7. – p. 2319-2339.
- ^ Berkowitz D., Windsor E. J., Han C. W. (ed.). Male femininities. – NYU Press, 2023.
- ^ "effeminate". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.
- ^ a b c d e f "What Does femboy Mean? | Gender & Sexuality by Dictionary.com". Everything After Z by Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2020-03-11.
- ^ Dover, 1989
- ^ Winkler, 1990
- ^ Williams, 1999
- ^ Louis Crompton, Homosexuality and Civilization (Harvard University Press, 2003), pp. 84–86; Winn, The Poetry of War, p. 162.
- ^ Holland, 2004
- ^ fr. 17 Malcovati; Aulus Gellius, 6.12.5; cited/translated by Williams 1999, p. 23
- ^ Institutes 5.9.14, cited/translated by Richlin, 1993
- ^ Fin. 2.94
- ^ Epist. 67.4
- ^ Commentarii de Bello Gallico, I,1
- ^ Meditations, Book 4.
- ^ "China bans men it sees as not masculine enough from TV - ABC News". ABC News.
- ^ "China bans men it sees as not masculine enough from TV | AP News". Associated Press. 2 September 2021.
- ^ Gagnon, 1977
- ^ David and Brannon, 1976
- ^ a b Harry 1982, 20
- ^ Saghir and Robins 1973, 18–19
- ^ Levine, 1998, p. 5–16
- ^ Karlen, 1978
- ^ a b Cory and LeRoy, 1963
- ^ Newton, 1972
- ^ Stearn 1962, 29
- ^ Levine, 1998, p. 21–23
- ^ Henry, 1955
- ^ West, 1977
- ^ a b c "'Femboys': The TikTok trend shaking up gender norms". Happy Mag. 2021-01-08. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
- ^ Fischer 1972
- ^ White 1980
- ^ Henry 1955, 304
- ^ Warren 1972, 1974
- ^ Helmer 1963
- ^ Guy Baldwin (1993). "THE OLD GUARD (The History of Leather Traditions)". Ties that Bind. Archived from the original on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
- ^ Fischer, 1972
- ^ Levine, 1998, p. 21–23, 56
- ^ Interview with RuPaul, David Shankbone, Wikinews, October 6, 2007.
- ^ Bailey et al. 1997.
- ^ Sullivan, 1987
- ^ Levine, 1998, p. 148
- David Halperin, 2002
- ISBN 9780299196837. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
- ^ Michael Bailey, 1995
- ^ Dylan Vox, "Would Life Be Better if You Were Straight?" Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine, Gaywired.com, Dec 20, 2007, also appeared in Edge, Boston
- ISBN 1-56023-990-5.
- ISBN 0-397-50329-6.
- ISBN 978-0739177051.
- ISBN 978-1580051545.
- ISSN 1715-0698.
- ISBN 9780226327297.
- ^ a b Ran, Dani (2020-08-13). "Introducing 'Femboys', the Most Wholesome Trend On TikTok". Vice. Archived from the original on 2020-10-20. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
Bibliography
- On Virtues and Vices, Aristotle, trans. H. Rackham, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1992. 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 0-452-01067-5.
- 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]
- Holland, Tom (2004). Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-50313-X.
- Halperin, David M. (2002). How To Do The History of Homosexuality, p. 125. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-31447-2.
- K.J. Dover, (1989). Greek Homosexuality. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-36270-5.
- Levine, Martin P. (1998). Gay Macho. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-4694-2.
- Darryl B. Hill, "Feminine" Heterosexual Men: Subverting Heteropatriarchal Sexual Scripts? (The Journal of Men's Studies, Spring 2006, Men's Studies Press; ISSN 1060-8265)
- Gagnon, John H. (1977). Human Sexualities. Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman.
- David, Deborah S. and Brannon, Robert (1976). The Forty-Nine Percent Majority: The Male Sex Role. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
- Harry (1982). Gay Children Grown Up: Gender, Culture and Gender Deviance. New York: Praeger.
- Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith (1981). Sexual Preference: Its Development in Men and Women. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- Saghir and Robins (1973).
- Karlen, Arno (1978). "Homosexuality: The Scene and Its Student", The Sociology of Sex: An Introductory Reader, James M. Henslin and Edward Sagarineds. New York: Schocken.
- Cory, Donald W. and LeRoy, John P. (1963). The Homosexual and His Society: A View from Within. New York: Citadel Press.
- Newton, Esther (1972). Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
- Stearn, Jess (1962). The Sixth Man. New York: MacFadden.
- Bergling, Tim (2001). Sissyphobia: Gay Men and Effeminate Behavior. New York: Harrington Park Press. ISBN 1-56023-990-5.
- Bailey, Michael; Kim, Peggy; Hills, Alex; and Linsenmeier, Joan (1997). "Butch, Femme, or Straight Acting? Partner Preferences of Gay Men and Lesbians.", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(5), pp. 960–973.
- Bergling, Tim (1997). "Sissyphobia", Genre, p. 53. September.
- Bailey, Michael (1995). "Gender Identity", The Lives of Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals, p. 71-93. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Further reading
- Padva, Gilad. "Claiming Lost Gay Youth, Embracing Femininostalgia: Todd Haynes's Dottie Gets Spanked and Velvet Goldmine". In: Padva, Gilad, Queer Nostalgia in Cinema and Pop Culture, pp. 72–97 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, ISBN 978-1-137-26633-0).