Femininity

"Feminine" redirects here. For other uses, see Feminine (disambiguation).

Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed,^[1][2] and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered feminine are influenced by both cultural factors and biological factors.^[1][3][4][5] To what extent femininity is biologically or socially influenced is subject to debate.^[3][4][5] It is conceptually distinct from both the female biological sex and from womanhood, as all humans can exhibit feminine and masculine traits, regardless of sex and gender.^[2]

Venus with a Mirror (c. 1555) by Titian, showing the goddess Venus as the personification of femininity.

Traits traditionally cited as feminine include gracefulness, gentleness, empathy, humility, and sensitivity, though traits associated with femininity vary across societies and individuals, and are influenced by a variety of social and cultural factors.

Overview and history

 

The Birth of Venus (1486, Uffizi) is a classic representation of femininity painted by Sandro Botticelli.^[6][7] Venus was a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty and fertility.

Despite the terms femininity and masculinity being in common usage, there is little scientific agreement about what femininity and masculinity are.^[3]: 5 Among scholars, the concept of femininity has varying meanings.^[8]

Professor of English Tara Williams has suggested that modern notions of femininity in English-speaking society began during the medieval period at the time of the bubonic plague in the 1300s.^[9] Women in the Early Middle Ages were referred to simply within their traditional roles of maiden, wife, or widow.^[9]: 4 After the Black Death in England wiped out approximately half the population, traditional gender roles of wife and mother changed, and opportunities opened up for women in society. The words femininity and womanhood are first recorded in Chaucer around 1380.^[10][11]

In 1949, French intellectual Simone de Beauvoir wrote that "no biological, psychological or economic fate determines the figure that the human female presents in society" and "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman".^[12] The idea was picked up in 1959 by Canadian-American sociologist Erving Goffman^[13] and in 1990 by American philosopher Judith Butler,^[14] who theorized that gender is not fixed or inherent but is rather a socially defined set of practices and traits that have, over time, grown to become labelled as feminine or masculine.^[15] Goffman argued that women are socialized to present themselves as "precious, ornamental and fragile, uninstructed in and ill-suited for anything requiring muscular exertion" and to project "shyness, reserve and a display of frailty, fear and incompetence".^[16]

Scientific efforts to measure femininity and masculinity were pioneered by psychologists Lewis Terman and Catherine Cox Miles in the 1930s. Their M–F model was adopted by other researchers and psychologists. The model posited that femininity and masculinity were innate and enduring qualities, not easily measured, opposite to one another, and that imbalances between them led to mental disorders.^[17]

Alongside the women's movement of the 1970s, researchers began to move away from the M–F model, developing an interest in androgyny.^[17] The Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire were developed to measure femininity and masculinity on separate scales. Using such tests, researchers found that the two dimensions varied independently of one another, casting doubt on the earlier view of femininity and masculinity as opposing qualities.^[17]

Second-wave feminists, influenced by de Beauvoir, believed that although biological differences between females and males were innate, the concepts of femininity and masculinity had been culturally constructed, with traits such as passivity and tenderness assigned to women and aggression and intelligence assigned to men.^[18][19] Girls, second-wave feminists said, were then socialized with toys, games, television, and school into conforming to feminine values and behaviors.^[18] In her significant 1963 book The Feminine Mystique, American feminist Betty Friedan wrote that the key to women's subjugation lay in the social construction of femininity as childlike, passive, and dependent,^[20] and called for a "drastic reshaping of the cultural image of femininity."^[21]

Behavior and personality

See also: Sex differences in psychology, Feminine psychology, and Nature versus nurture

Traits such as nurturance, sensitivity, sweetness,^[8] supportiveness,^[22][23] gentleness, ^[23][24] warmth,^[22][24] passivity, cooperativeness, expressiveness,^[17] modesty, humility, empathy,^[23] affection, tenderness,^[22] and being emotional, kind, helpful, devoted, and understanding^[24] have been cited as stereotypically feminine. The defining characteristics of femininity vary between and even within societies.^[22]

 

Young Woman Drawing (1801, Metropolitan Museum of Art) painted by Marie-Denise Villers (possibly a self-portrait), depicts an independent feminine spirit.^[25]

The relationship between feminine socialization and heterosexual relationships has been studied by scholars, as femininity is related to women's and girls' sexual appeal to men and boys.^[8] Femininity is sometimes linked with sexual objectification.^[26][27] Sexual passiveness, or sexual receptivity, is sometimes considered feminine while sexual assertiveness and sexual desire are sometimes considered masculine.^[27]

Scholars have debated the extent to which gender identity and gender-specific behaviors are due to socialization versus biological factors.^{[5]: 29 [28][29]} Social and biological influences are thought to be mutually interacting during development.^{[5]: 29 [4]: 218–225} Studies of prenatal androgen exposure have provided some evidence that femininity and masculinity are partly biologically determined.^{[3]: 8–9 [4]: 153–154} Other possible biological influences include evolution, genetics, epigenetics, and hormones (both during development and in adulthood).^{[5]: 29–31 [3]: 7–13 [4]: 153–154}

In 1959, researchers such as John Money and Anke Ehrhardt proposed the prenatal hormone theory. Their research argues that sexual organs bathe the embryo with hormones in the womb, resulting in the birth of an individual with a distinctively male or female brain; this was suggested by some to "predict future behavioral development in a masculine or feminine direction".^[30] This theory, however, has been criticized on theoretical and empirical grounds and remains controversial.^[31][32] In 2005, scientific research investigating sex differences in psychology showed that gender expectations and stereotype threat affect behavior, and a person's gender identity can develop as early as three years of age.^[33] Money also argued that gender identity is formed during a child's first three years.^[29]

People who exhibit a combination of both masculine and feminine characteristics are considered androgynous, and feminist philosophers have argued that gender ambiguity may blur gender classification.^[34][35] Modern conceptualizations of femininity also rely not just upon social constructions, but upon the individualized choices made by women.^[36]

Philosopher 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.^{[37][page needed]} 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.^[26][38]

In his 1998 book Masculinity and Femininity: the Taboo Dimension of National Cultures, Dutch psychologist and researcher Geert Hofstede wrote that only behaviors directly connected with procreation can, strictly speaking, be described as feminine or masculine, and yet every society worldwide recognizes many additional behaviors as more suitable to females than males, and vice versa. He describes these as relatively arbitrary choices mediated by cultural norms and traditions, identifying "masculinity versus femininity" as one of five basic dimensions in his theory of cultural dimensions. Hofstede describes as feminine behaviors including service, permissiveness, and benevolence, and describes as feminine those countries stressing equality, solidarity, quality of work-life, and the resolution of conflicts by compromise and negotiation.^[39][40]

In Carl Jung's school of analytical psychology, the anima and animus are the two primary anthropomorphic archetypes of the unconscious mind. The anima and animus are described by Jung as elements of his theory of the collective unconscious, a domain of the unconscious that transcends the personal psyche. In the unconscious of the male, it finds expression as a feminine inner personality: anima; equivalently, in the unconscious of the female, it is expressed as a masculine inner personality: animus.^[41]

Clothing and appearance

Main articles: Physical attractiveness § Female, and Clothing § Gender differentiation

See also: Gendered associations of pink and blue

In Western cultures, the ideal of feminine appearance has traditionally included long, flowing hair, clear skin, a narrow waist, and little or no body hair or facial hair.^[2][42][43] In other cultures, however, some expectations are different. For example, in many parts of the world, underarm hair is not considered unfeminine.^[44] Today, the color pink is strongly associated with femininity, whereas in the early 1900s pink was associated with boys and blue with girls.^[45]

These feminine ideals of beauty have been criticized as restrictive, unhealthy, and even racist.^[43][46] In particular, the prevalence of anorexia and other eating disorders in Western countries has frequently been blamed on the modern feminine ideal of thinness.^[47]

 

Muslim woman wearing a headdress (Hijab)

In many Muslim countries, women are required to cover their heads with a hijab (veil). It is considered a symbol of feminine modesty and morality.^[48][49] Some, however, see it as a symbol of objectification and oppression.^[50][51]

In history

 

In some cultures, cosmetics are associated with femininity

Cultural standards vary on what is considered feminine. For example, in 16th century France, high heels were considered a distinctly masculine type of shoe, though they are currently considered feminine.^[52][53]

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.^[54]

The typical feminine outfit of aristocratic 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.^[54]

Body alteration

Main article: Body alteration

Body alteration is the deliberate altering of the human body for aesthetic or non-medical purpose.^[55] 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 made walking difficult and painful.^[56][57]

In a few parts of Africa and Asia, neck rings are worn in order to elongate the neck. In these cultures, a long neck characterizes feminine beauty.^[58] The Padaung of Burma and Tutsi women of Burundi, for instance, practice this form of body modification.^[59][60]

•  

  In China until the twentieth century, tiny, bound feet for women were considered aristocratic and feminine

•  

  The Kayan people of Burma (Myanmar) associate the wearing of neck rings with feminine beauty.^[61]

Traditional roles

Main article: Gender roles

 

Teacher in a classroom in Madagascar (c. 2008). Primary and secondary school teaching is often considered a feminine occupation.

Femininity as a social construct relies on a binary gender system that treats men and masculinity as different from, and opposite to, women and femininity.^[8] In patriarchal societies, including Western ones, conventional attitudes to femininity contribute to the subordination of women, as women are seen as more compliant, vulnerable, and less prone to violence.^[8]

Gender stereotypes influence traditional feminine occupations, resulting in microaggression toward women who break traditional gender roles.^[62] 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.^[63] Occupational segregation maintains gender inequality^[64] and the gender pay gap.^[65] Certain medical specializations, such as surgery and emergency medicine, are dominated by a masculine culture^[66] and have a higher salary.^[67][68]

Leadership is associated with masculinity in Western culture and women are perceived less favorably as potential leaders.^[69] However, some people have argued that feminine-style leadership, which is associated with leadership that focuses on help and cooperation, is advantageous over masculine leadership, which is associated with focusing on tasks and control.^[70] Female leaders are more often described by Western media using characteristics associated with femininity, such as emotion.^[70]

Explanations for occupational imbalance

Psychologist Deborah L. Best argues that primary sex characteristics of men and women, such as the ability to bear children, caused a historical sexual division of labor and that gender stereotypes evolved culturally to perpetuate this division.^[71]

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 low-skilled masculinized occupations, such as truck driving. Anker argues the feminization of certain occupations limits employment options for women.^[63]

Role congruity theory

Role congruity theory proposes that people tend to view deviations from expected gender roles negatively. It supports the empirical evidence that gender discrimination exists in areas traditionally associated with one gender or the other. It is sometimes used to explain why people have a tendency to evaluate behavior that fulfills the prescriptions of a leader role less favorably when it is enacted by a woman.^{[72][73][74][75][76]}

Religion and politics

 

The Altai consider shamanism a feminine role.^[77]

Asian religions

Shamanism may have originated as early as the Paleolithic period, predating all organized religions.^[78][79] Archeological finds have suggested that the earliest known shamans were female,^[80] and contemporary shamanic roles such as the Korean mudang continue to be filled primarily by women.^[81][82]

In Hindu traditions, Devi is the female aspect of the divine. Shakti is the divine feminine creative power, the sacred force that moves through the entire universe^[83] and the agent of change. She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect, which represents consciousness or discrimination, remains impotent and void. As the female manifestation of the supreme lord, she is also called Prakriti, the basic nature of intelligence by which the Universe exists and functions. In Hinduism, the universal creative force Yoni is feminine, with inspiration being the life force of creation.

 

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.^[84]

Abrahamic theology

 

Holy Wisdom: Hagia Sophia

Although the Abrahamic God is typically described in masculine terms—such as father or king—many theologians argue that this is not meant to indicate the gender of God.^[85] According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, God "is neither man nor woman: he is God".^[86] Several recent writers, such as feminist theologian Sallie McFague, have explored the idea of "God as mother", examining the feminine qualities attributed to God. For example, in the Book of Isaiah, God is compared to a mother comforting her child, while in the Book of Deuteronomy, God is said to have given birth to Israel.^[85]

The Book of Genesis describes the divine creation of the world out of nothing or ex nihilo. In Wisdom literature and in the wisdom tradition, wisdom is described as feminine. In many books of the Old Testament, including Wisdom and Sirach, wisdom is personified and called she. According to David Winston, because wisdom is God's "creative agent," she must be intimately identified with God.^[87]

The Wisdom of God is feminine in Hebrew: Chokhmah, in Arabic: Hikmah, in Greek: Sophia, and in Latin: Sapientia. In Hebrew, both Shekhinah (the Holy Spirit and divine presence of God) and Ruach HaKodesh (divine inspiration) are feminine.^{[citation needed]}

In Christian Kabbalah, Chokhmah (wisdom and intuition) is the force in the creative process that God used to create the heavens and the earth. Binah (understanding and perception) is the great mother, the feminine receiver of energy and giver of form. Binah receives the intuitive insight from Chokhmah and dwells on it in the same way that a mother receives the seed from the father, and keeps it within her until it's time to give birth. The intuition, once received and contemplated with perception, leads to the creation of the Universe.^[88]

Communism

 

Porcelain statue of a woman in communist China - Cat Street Market, Hong Kong

Communist revolutionaries initially depicted idealized womanhood as muscular, plainly dressed and strong,^[89] with good female communists shown as undertaking hard manual labour, using guns, and eschewing self-adornment.^[90] Contemporary Western journalists portrayed communist states as the enemy of traditional femininity, describing women in communist countries as "mannish" perversions.^[91][92] In revolutionary China in the 1950s, Western journalists described Chinese women as "drably dressed, usually in sloppy slacks and without makeup, hair waves or nail polish" and wrote that "Glamour was communism's earliest victim in China. You can stroll the cheerless streets of Peking all day, without seeing a skirt or a sign of lipstick; without thrilling to the faintest breath of perfume; without hearing the click of high heels, or catching the glint of legs sheathed in nylon."^[93][94] In communist Poland, changing from high heels to worker's boots symbolized women's shift from the bourgeois to socialism."^[95]

Later, the initial state portrayals of idealized femininity as strong and hard-working began to also include more traditional notions such as gentleness, caring and nurturing behaviour, softness, modesty and moral virtue,^{[89][96]: 53} requiring good communist women to become "superheroes who excelled in all spheres", including working at jobs not traditionally regarded as feminine in nature.^{[96]: 55–60}

Communist ideology explicitly rejected some aspects of traditional femininity that it viewed as bourgeois and consumerist, such as helplessness, idleness and self-adornment. In Communist countries, some women resented not having access to cosmetics and fashionable clothes. In her 1993 book of essays How We Survived Communism & Even Laughed, Croatian journalist and novelist Slavenka Drakulic wrote about "a complaint I heard repeatedly from women in Warsaw, Budapest, Prague, Sofia, East Berlin: 'Look at us – we don't even look like women. There are no deodorants, perfumes, sometimes even no soap or toothpaste. There is no fine underwear, no pantyhose, no nice lingerie[']"^{[97] : 31} and "Sometimes I think the real Iron Curtain is made of silky, shiny images of pretty women dressed in wonderful clothes, of pictures from women's magazines ... The images that cross the borders in magazines, movies or videos are therefore more dangerous than any secret weapon, because they make one desire that 'otherness' badly enough to risk one's life trying to escape."^{[97] : 28–9}

As communist countries such as Romania and the Soviet Union began to liberalize, their official media began representing women in more conventionally feminine ways compared with the "rotund farm workers and plain-Jane factory hand" depictions they had previously been publishing. As perfumes, cosmetics, fashionable clothing, and footwear became available to ordinary women in the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Yugoslavia and Hungary, they began to be presented not as bourgeois frivolities but as signs of socialist modernity.^[98] In China, with the economic liberation started by Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s, the state stopped discouraging women from expressing conventional femininity, and gender stereotypes and commercialized sexualization of women which had been suppressed under communist ideology began to rise.^[99]

In men

See also: Effeminacy

 

Flowers and makeup are stereotypically associated with femininity in Western culture.^[100][101]

In many cultures, men who display qualities considered feminine are often stigmatized and labeled as weak.^[8] Effeminate men are often associated with homosexuality,^[102][103] although femininity is not necessarily related to a man's sexual orientation.^[104] Because men are pressured to be masculine and heterosexual, feminine men are assumed to be gay or queer because of how they perform their gender. This assumption limits the way one is allowed to express one's gender and sexuality.^[105][106]

Cross-dressing and drag are two public performances of femininity by men that have been popularly known and understood throughout many western cultures. Men who wear clothing associated with femininity are often called cross-dressers.^[107] A drag queen is a man who wears flamboyant women's clothing and behaves in an exaggeratedly feminine manner for entertainment purposes.

Feminist views

See also: Feminism

Feminist philosophers such as Judith Butler and Simone de Beauvoir^[108] 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.^[109]

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.^[110]

Others, such as lipstick feminists and some other third-wave feminists, argue that feminism should not 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.^[111][112]

Julia Serano notes that masculine girls and women face much less social disapproval than feminine boys and men, which she attributes to sexism. Serano argues that women wanting to be like men is consistent with the idea that maleness is more valued in contemporary culture than femaleness, whereas men being willing to give up masculinity in favour of femininity directly threatens the notion of male superiority as well as the idea that men and women should be opposites. To support her thesis, Serano cites the far greater public scrutiny and disdain experienced by male-to-female cross-dressers compared with that faced by women who dress in masculine clothes, as well as research showing that parents are likelier to respond negatively to sons who like Barbie dolls and ballet or wear nail polish than they are to daughters exhibiting comparably masculine behaviours.^{[113]: 284–292}

Julia Serano's transfeminist critique

In her 2007 book Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, American transsexual writer and biologist Julia Serano offers a transfeminist critique of femininity, notable especially for its call to empower femininity:^[113][114]

Serano notes that some behaviors, such as frequent smiling or avoiding eye contact with strangers, are considered feminine because they are practised disproportionately by women, and likely have resulted from women's attempts to negotiate through a world which is sometimes hostile to them.^[113]: 322

Serano argues that because contemporary culture is sexist, it assigns negative connotations to, or trivializes, behaviours understood to be feminine such as gossiping, behaving emotionally or decorating. It also recasts and reimagines femininity through a male heterosexual lens, for example interpreting women's empathy and altruism as husband-and-child-focused rather than globally focused, and interpreting women's interest in aesthetics as intended solely to entice or attract men.^{[113]: 327–8}

See also

• Feminine psychology
• Feminism
• Feminization (sociology)
• Effeminacy
• Gender role
• Gender studies
• Marianismo
• Masculinity
• Nature versus nurture
• Sociology of gender
• Transfeminine

References

1. Shehan, Constance L. (2018). Gale Researcher Guide for: The Continuing Significance of Gender. Gale, Cengage Learning. pp. 1–5. ISBN 9781535861175.
2. Ferrante, Joan (January 2010). Sociology: A Global Perspective (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. pp. 269–272. ISBN 978-0-8400-3204-1.
3. Martin, Hale; Finn, Stephen E. (2010). Masculinity and Femininity in the MMPI-2 and MMPI-A. University of Minnesota Press. pp. 5–13. ISBN 978-0-8166-2444-7.
4. Lippa, Richard A. (2005). Gender, Nature, and Nurture (2nd ed.). Routledge. pp. 153–154, 218–225. ISBN 9781135604257.
5. Wharton, Amy S. (2005). The Sociology of Gender: An Introduction to Theory and Research. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 29–31. ISBN 978-1-40-514343-1.
6. Manifestations of Venus: art and sexuality pg 93 By Katie Scott, Caroline Arscott pg 93-"...began its consideration of Venus by describing her as .... who presided over all feminine charms, for..."
7. The Pacific muse pg 49 By Patty O'Brien "The young beautiful Venus wringing water from her tresses was a configuration of exotic femininity that was…
8. Windsor, Elroi J. (2015). "Femininities". In Wright, James D. (ed.). International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, Volume 8 (2nd ed.). Elsevier. pp. 893–897. doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.35015-2. ISBN 978-0-08-097087-5.
9. Williams, Tara (2011). (PDF). Ohio State University Press. ISBN 978-0814211519. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 6, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
10. "c1386 CHAUCER Man of Law's T. 262 O serpent under femynynytee.". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
11. "c1374 CHAUCER Troylus I. 283 Alle here lymes so wel answerynge Weren to womanhode.". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
12. de Beauvoir, Simone (2010). The Second Sex. New York: Knopf. ISBN 978-0307265562.
13. Erving Goffman (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Anchor. ISBN 0385094027.
14. Butler, Judith (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge. ISBN 0415389550.
15. Milestone, Katie (2011). Gender and Popular Culture. Polity. ISBN 978-0745643946.
16. Ziegler, Kathryn A. (2010). "Formidable-Femininity": Performing Gender and Third Wave Feminism in a Women's Self-Defense Class. LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 978-3838307671.
17. Stets, Jan E.; Burke, Peter J. (2000). "Femininity/Masculinity". In Borgatta, Edgar F.; Montgomery, Rhonda (eds.). Encyclopedia of Sociology, Volume 2 (2nd ed.). Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 997–1005. ISBN 0-02-864850-1.
18. Millett, Kate (1968). Sexual Politics.
19. Hollows, Joanne (2000). Feminism, Femininity and Popular Culture. Manchester University Press. pp. 10–12. ISBN 0719043956.
20. Jaggar, Alison M. (1989). Gender/Body/Knowledge: Feminist Reconstructions of Being and Knowing. Rutgers University Press. pp. 17. ISBN 0813513790.
21. Gamble, Sarah (2002). The Routledge Companion to Feminism and Postfeminism. Routledge. pp. 29. ISBN 0415243106.
22. Burke, Peter J.; Stets, Jan E. (2009). Identity Theory. Oxford University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-19-538827-5.
23. Vetterling-Braggin, Mary, ed. (1982). 'Femininity,' 'Masculinity,' and 'Androgyny': A Modern Philosophical Discussion. Rowman & Allanheld. p. 5. ISBN 0-8226-0399-3.
24. Kite, Mary E. (2001). "Gender Stereotypes". In Worell, Judith (ed.). Encyclopedia of Women and Gender, Volume 1. Academic Press. p. 563. ISBN 0-12-227245-5.
25. [1] The Methodologies of Art: An Introduction (Boulder: Westview Press, 1996), 81. Laurie Schneider Adams "[Young Woman Drawing] 'suddenly acquired feminine attributes: Its poetry, literary … all seem to reveal the feminine spirit."
26. Ria Kloppenborg, Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Female stereotypes in religious traditions, BRILL, 1995, ISBN 90-04-10290-6, ISBN 978-90-04-10290-3
27. Ussher, Jane M. Fantasies of femininity: reframing the boundaries of sex
28. van den Wijngaard, Marianne (1997). Reinventing the Sexes: The Biomedical Construction of Femininity and Masculinity. Indiana University Press. p. 1. ISBN 0-253-21087-9.
29. Pearson, Judy C.; Cooks, Leda (1995). "Gender and Power". In Kalbfleisch, Pamela J.; Cody, Michael J. (eds.). Gender, power, and communication in human relationships. Psychology Press. p. 333. ISBN 0-8058-1404-3. Retrieved June 3, 2011.
30. van den Wijngaard (1997), p. 5.
31. Ehrhardt, Anke A.; H. F. L. Meyer-Bahlburg (1981). "Effects of Prenatal Sex Hormones on Gender-Related Behavior". Science. 211 (4488): 1312–1318. Bibcode:1981Sci...211.1312E. doi:10.1126/science.7209510. PMID 7209510.
32. Bem, Sandra Lipsitz (1993). The Lenses of Gender: Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality. New Haven u.a.: Yale University Press. pp. 25–27. ISBN 0-300-05676-1.
33. Ann M. Gallagher, James C. Kaufman, Gender differences in mathematics: an integrative psychological approach, Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-521-82605-5, ISBN 978-0-521-82605-1
34. Butler, Judith (1999 [1990]), Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York and London: Routledge).
35. Laurie, Timothy (2014). "The ethics of nobody I know: Gender and the politics of description". Qualitative Research Journal. 14: 64–78. doi:10.1108/QRJ-03-2014-0011. hdl:10453/44221.
36. Budgeon, Shelley(2015), 'Individualized femininity and feminist politics of choice..', European Journal of Women's Studies, 22 (3), pp. 303-318.
37. Vetterling-Braggin (1982).
38. Pateman, Carole (1988). The Sexual Contract, Stanford: Stanford University Press, p. 207.
39. Hofstede, Geert (1998). Masculinity and Femininity: The Taboo Dimension of National Cultures. SAGE Publications, Inc. ISBN 0761910298.
40. . The Hofstede Centre. Archived from the original on August 31, 2013. Retrieved August 14, 2013. The masculinity side of this dimension represents a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and material reward for success. Society at large is more competitive. Its opposite, femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life. Society at large is more consensus-oriented.
41. Jung, Carl. The Psychology of the Unconscious, Dvir Co., Ltd., Tel-Aviv, 1973 (originally 1917)
42. Lesnik-Oberstein, Karín (2010). The Last Taboo: Women and Body Hair (Paperback ed.). Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-8323-5.
43. Davis, Kathy (2003). Dubious Equalities and Embodied Differences: Cultural Studies on Cosmetic Surgery. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 93. ISBN 0-7425-1421-8.
44. McLoughlin, Linda (2000). The Language of Magazines. London: Routledge. p. 96. ISBN 0-415-21424-6.
45. Bolich, G. G. (2007). Conversing on Gender. Gardners Books. p. 315. ISBN 978-0615156705.
46. Taylor, Verta (2008). Feminist Frontiers (8th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill Higher Education. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-07-340430-1.
47. Mahowald, Mary Briody (1996). Women and Children in Health Care: An Unequal Majority (New ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 210–213. ISBN 978-0-19-510870-5.
48. Daniels, Dayna B. (2009). Polygendered and Ponytailed: The Dilemma of Femininity and the Female Athlete. Toronto: Women's Press. p. 147. ISBN 978-0889614765.
49. Esposito, John L., ed. (2003). The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 112. ISBN 0195125584.
50. "Wearing the Hijab in Solidarity Perpetuates Oppression". www.nytimes.com.
51. "I didn't want to wear my hijab, and don't believe very young girls should wear them today | Iman Amrani". the Guardian. February 2, 2018.
52. Brown, William, Art of shoe making, Global Media, 2007, 8189940295, 9788189940294
53. Kremer, William (January 24, 2013). "Why did men stop wearing high heels?". BBC News. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
54. Condra, Jill, The Greenwood encyclopedia of clothing through world history: Prehistory to 1500 CE, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008, ISBN 0-313-33663-6, ISBN 978-0-313-33663-8
55. . Essortment.com. May 16, 1986. Archived from the original on January 28, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
56. "Binding: Bone Breaking Beauty, August, 2009". Cogitz.com. August 29, 2009. Archived from the original on July 9, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
57. "The Art of Social Change: Campaigns against foot-binding and genital mutilation". The New York Times. October 22, 2010.
58. Kislenko, Arne. Culture and customs of Thailand. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-313-32128-3.
59. Thesander, Marianne. The feminine ideal. London: Reaktion Books, 1997, ISBN 978-1-86189-004-7.
60. Walker, Andrew. Bound by tradition. Retrieved on July 25, 2011.
61. Keng, Huay Pu. "Long Neck Ring Wearing". www.huaypukeng.com. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
62. Derald, Sue (2010). Microaggressions in everyday life: race, gender, and sexual orientation. US, Canada: John Wiley and Sons. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-470-49140-9.
63. Anker, Richard (2001). Gender and Jobs: Sex Segregation of Occupations in the World (2. impr. with modifications. ed.). Geneva: International Labour Office. pp. 23–30. ISBN 978-92-2-109524-8.
64. "Women's Rights Law Reporter". Litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
65. Beckford, Martin (August 11, 2009). "More British women in 'high status' professions than men, finds study". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
66. Boulis, Ann K.; Jacobs, Jerry A. (2010). The Changing Face of Medicine: Women Doctors and the Evolution of Health Care in America. Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR. pp. 94–98. ISBN 978-0-8014-7662-4.
67. "Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2012 Provisional Results". UK: Office for National Statistics.
68. Rogers, Simon (November 22, 2012). "What each job gets paid: find yours and see how it compares". The Guardian. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
69. Chin, Jean Lau, Women and leadership: transforming visions and diverse voices Wiley-Blackwell, 2007, ISBN 1-4051-5582-5, ISBN 978-1-4051-5582-3
70. Klenke, Karin, Women and Leadership: A Contextual Perspective , Springer Publishing Company, 2004 ISBN 0-8261-9221-1, ISBN 978-0-8261-9221-9
71. Best, Deborah L. (2001). "Cross-Cultural Gender Roles". In Worell, Judith (ed.). Encyclopedia of Women and Gender, Volume 1. Academic Press. p. 281. ISBN 0-12-227245-5.
72. Eagly, Alice H.; Karau, Steven J. (2002). "Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders". Psychological Review. 109 (3): 573–598. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.109.3.573. PMID 12088246.
73. Heilman, Madeline E.; Wallen, Aaron S.; Fuchs, Daniella; Tamkins, Melinda M. (2004). (PDF). Journal of Applied Psychology. 89 (3): 416–427. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.89.3.416. PMID 15161402. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
74. Rudman, Laurie A.; Glick, Peter (2001). "Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes and Backlash Towards Agentic Women". Journal of Social Issues. 57 (4): 743–762. doi:10.1111/0022-4537.00239. hdl:2027.42/146421. ISBN 9781405100847.
75. Heilman, Madeline E (2001). "Description and Prescription: How Gender Stereotypes Prevent Women's Ascent Up the Organizational Ladder". Journal of Social Issues. 57 (4): 657–674. doi:10.1111/0022-4537.00234. ISBN 9781405100847. S2CID 144504496.
76. Schein, Virginia E (2001). "A Global Look at Psychological Barriers to Women's Progress in Management". Journal of Social Issues. 57 (4): 675–688. doi:10.1111/0022-4537.00235. ISBN 9781405100847.
77. Barbara Tedlock The woman in the shaman's body: reclaiming the feminine in religion and medicine, Random House Digital, Inc., 2005
78. Jean Clottes. . Bradshaw foundation. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2008.
79. Karl J. Narr. "Prehistoric religion". Britannica Online Encyclopedia 2008. Archived from the original on April 14, 2015. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
80. Tedlock, Barbara. 2005. The Woman in the Shaman's Body: Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine. New York: Bantam.
81. Lee, Jung Yong (August 1973). "Concerning the Origin and Formation of Korean Shamanism". Numen. 20 (2): 135–159. doi:10.1163/156852773x00321. PMID 11615020.
82. Oak, Sung-Deuk (2010). "Healing and Exorcism: Christian Encounters with Shamanism in Early Modern Korea". Asian Ethnology. 69 (1): 95–128.
83. Sacred Sanskrit words, p.111
84. Osgood, Charles E (1973). "From Yang and Yin to and or but". Language. 49 (2): 380–412. doi:10.2307/412460. JSTOR 412460.
85. McGrath, Alister E. (2010). Christian Theology: An Introduction (5th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 197–199. ISBN 978-1-4443-3514-9.
86. "Catechism of the Catholic Church". from the original on March 3, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
87. David Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon: a new translation with introduction and commentary, (New York, Doubleday, 1979), p. 194 ISBN 0-385-01644-1
88. . Christ-centeredkabbalah.org. Archived from the original on January 28, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
89. Brown, Archie (2009). The Rise and Fall of Communism (1st U.S. ed.). New York: Ecco. p. 70. ISBN 978-0061138799.
90. Gilmartin, Christina K.; Hershatter, Gail; Rofel, Lisa, eds. (1994). Engendering China: Women, Culture, and the State. Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press. p. 304. ISBN 0674253329.
91. Lanzona, Vina A. (2009). Amazons of the Huk Rebellion: Gender, Sex, and Revolution in the Philippines (New Perspectives in Southeast Asian Studies). University of Wisconsin Press. p. 182. ISBN 978-0299230944.
92. Strahan, Lachlan (1996). Australia's China: Changing Perceptions from the 1930s to the 1990s. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press. p. 242. ISBN 0521484979.
93. Strahan, Lachlan (1996). Australia's China: Changing Perceptions from the 1930s to the 1990s. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press. pp. 234–240. ISBN 0521484979.
94. Turner, Bryan S.; Yangwen, Zheng, eds. (2009). The Body in Asia. New York: Berghahn Books. p. 183. ISBN 978-1845455507.
95. Fidelis, Malgorzata (2010). Women, Communism, and Industrialization in Postwar Poland (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0521196871.
96. Fawn, Rick; White, Stephen, eds. (2002). Russia after Communism (1 ed.). London: Cass. ISBN 0714652938.
97. Drakulić, Slavenka (2003). How we Survived Communism and even Laughed (1. HarperPerennial ed., repr. ed.). New York: HarperPerennial. ISBN 0060975407.
98. Bren, Paulina; Neuburger, Mary, eds. (September 20, 2012). Communism Unwrapped: Consumption in Cold War Eastern Europe. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 230. ISBN 978-0199827671.
99. Halpern, Diane F. and Fanny M. Cheung (2010). Women at the Top: Powerful Leaders Tell Us How to Combine Work and Family. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1405171052.
100. Elias, Ann (2015). Useless Beauty: Flowers and Australian Art. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-4438-8457-0. On a global scale, flowers have not only defined femininity but the history of representations of flowers in art has underpinned differences in the sexual categories of masculine and feminine.
101. Beausoleil, Natalie (1994). "Makeup in Everyday Life". In Sault, Nicole (ed.). Many Mirrors: Body Image and Social Relations. Rutgers University Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-8135-2080-3. Among everyday appearance practices in contemporary Western society, 'visible' makeup clearly marks the production of 'womanhood' and 'femininity': overall, women are the ones who wear makeup, men do not.
102. "Why do gays fall for straights?" The Advocate, February 17, 1998, 72 pages, No. 753, ISSN 0001-8996, Published by Here Publishing
103. Pezzote, Angelo Straight Acting: Gay Men, Masculinity and Finding True Love, Kensington Publishing Corp., 2008, ISBN 0-7582-1943-1, ISBN 978-0-7582-1943-5
104. Hill, Darryl B (2006). "Feminine" Heterosexual Men: Subverting Heteropatriarchal Sexual Scripts?". Journal of Men's Studies. 14 (2): 145–59. doi:10.3149/jms.1402.145. S2CID 145293218.
105. Taywaditep, Kittiwut Jod (2001). "Marginalization Among the Marginalized: Gay Men's Anti-Effeminacy Attitudes". Journal of Homosexuality. 42 (1): 1–28. doi:10.1300/j082v42n01_01. PMID 11991561. S2CID 9163739.
106. Fellows, Will, A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture, University of Wisconsin Press, 2005, ISBN 0-299-19684-4, ISBN 978-0-299-19684-4
107. cross-dress." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.
108. van den Wijngaard (1997), p. 4.
109. Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York; Routledge.
110. "Sally Feldman – Heights of madness". New Humanist. May 7, 2008. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
111. Scanlon, Jennifer, Bad girls go everywhere: the life of Helen Gurley Brown, Oxford University Press US, 2009, ISBN 0-19-534205-4, ISBN 978-0-19-534205-5
112. Joanne Hollows; Rachel Moseley (February 17, 2006). Feminism in popular culture. Berg Publishers. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-84520-223-1. https://books.google.com/books?
113. Serano, Julia (2007). Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. Berkeley: Seal Press. ISBN 978-1580051545. Until feminists work to empower femininity and pry it away from the insipid, inferior meanings that plague it – weakness, helplessness, fragility, passivity, frivolity, and artificiality – those meanings will continue to haunt every person who is female and/or feminine.
114. Rasmussen, Debbie (2007). . Bitch. Archived from the original on September 15, 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2013. The rising visibility of trans, intersex, and genderqueer movements has led feminists—and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the world—to an increasing awareness that m and f are only the beginning of the story of gender identity. With the release of Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, Julia Serano offers a perspective sorely needed, but up until now rarely heard: a transfeminine critique of both feminist and mainstream understandings of gender.

External links

•   Quotations related to Femininity at Wikiquote
•   The dictionary definition of femininity at Wiktionary
•   Media related to Femininity at Wikimedia Commons