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139-630: Effeminacy or male femininity is the embodiment of feminine traits in boys or men , particularly those considered untypical of men or masculinity . These traits include roles , stereotypes , behaviors, and appearances that are socially associated with girls and women . Throughout Western civilization , men considered effeminate have faced prejudice and discrimination . Gay men are often stereotyped as being effeminate, and vice versa. However, femininity, masculinity, and other forms of gender expression are independent of sexual orientation . Effeminate comes from Latin effeminātus , from
278-486: A college textbook , although many of Money's ideas have since been challenged. In the late 1980s, gender studies scholar Judith Butler began lecturing regularly on the topic of gender identity, and in 1990, they published Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity , introducing the concept of gender performativity . Butler argues that the traditional view of gender is limiting in that it adheres to
417-653: A gender binary to which most people adhere and which includes expectations of masculinity and femininity in all aspects of sex and gender : biological sex , gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation. Some people do not identify with some, or all, of the aspects of gender associated with their biological sex; some of those people are transgender , non-binary, or genderqueer . Some societies have third gender categories. The 2012 book Introduction to Behavioral Science in Medicine says that with exceptions, "Gender identity develops surprisingly rapidly in
556-453: A guru . These communities have consisted over generations of those who are in abject poverty or who have been rejected by or fled their family of origin. Many work as sex workers for survival. The word "hijra" is a Hindustani word. It has traditionally been translated into English as "eunuch" or " hermaphrodite ", where "the irregularity of the male genitalia is central to the definition". However, in general hijras are born male, only
695-545: A "dislike and sometimes incapacity for needlework". During the mid-1900s, doctors pushed for corrective therapy on such women and children, which meant that gender behaviors that were not part of the norm would be punished and changed. The aim of this therapy was to push children back to their "correct" gender roles and thereby limit the number of children who became transgender. In 1905, Sigmund Freud presented his theory of psychosexual development in Three Essays on
834-492: A "growing chorus of voices contesting the pathologization of transgender lives and the dominance of medical-scientific narratives about trans experience." As such, in 2019, the World Health Organization removed gender dysphoria from the mental illness chapter and moved it instead to the sexual health chapter, changing the term "Gender Dysphoria" to "Gender Incongruence," thereby removing gender dysphoria as
973-645: A 'cure'." The "Yogyakarta Principles in Action" says "it is important to note that while 'sexual orientation' has been declassified as a mental illness in many countries, 'gender identity' or 'gender identity disorder' often remains in consideration." These Principles influenced the UN declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity . In 2015, gender identity was part of the United States Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges in which marriage
1112-505: A 2005 academic paper questioned the classification of gender identity problems as a mental disorder , speculating that certain DSM revisions may have been made on a tit-for-tat basis when certain groups were pushing for the removal of homosexuality as a disorder. This remains controversial, although the vast majority of today's mental health professionals follow and agree with the current DSM classifications. In recent years, however, there has been
1251-473: A child's attitude on gender. A mother's behavior was especially influential on a child's assumptions of the child's own gender. For example, mothers who practiced more traditional behaviors around their children resulted in the son displaying fewer stereotypes of male roles while the daughter displayed more stereotypes of female roles. No correlation was found between a father's behavior and his children's knowledge of stereotypes of their own gender. Fathers who held
1390-430: A child's life. The social learning theory posits that children furthermore develop their gender identity through observing and imitating gender-linked behaviors, and then being rewarded or punished for behaving that way, thus being shaped by the people surrounding them through trying to imitate and follow them. Large-scale twin studies suggest that the development of both transgender and cisgender gender identities
1529-501: A diagnosis of gender identity disorder can be made, and the disorder is further subdivided into specific diagnoses based on age, for example gender identity disorder in children (for children who experience gender dysphoria). The concept of gender identity appeared in the third edition of the DSM, DSM-III (1980), in the form of two psychiatric diagnoses of gender dysphoria: gender identity disorder of childhood (GIDC), and transsexualism (for adolescents and adults). The 1987 revision of
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#17327757685311668-465: A display of frailty, fear and incompetence". 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. Alongside
1807-475: A durable biological element underlying gender identity. Individuals may make choices due to other factors in their lives, but there do not seem to be external forces that genuinely cause individuals to change gender identity. Some studies have investigated whether there is a link between biological variables and transgender or transsexual identity. Several studies have shown that sexually dimorphic brain structures in transsexuals are shifted away from what
1946-523: 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. The Padaung of Burma and Tutsi women of Burundi , for instance, practice this form of body modification. 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. In patriarchal societies, including Western ones, conventional attitudes to femininity contribute to
2085-572: A form of cosplay . Cosplay has become exceedingly popular among online femboys, usually cosplaying female, non-binary , or effeminate male characters. While the term can be used as a slur towards trans women , it is also used as a positive/self-describing term within the LGBT community . Feminine 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 , and there
2224-407: A girl than Reimer's, and who remained a woman into adulthood. She reported that she had been somewhat tomboyish during childhood, enjoying stereotypically masculine childhood toys and interests, although her childhood friends were girls. While she was bisexual , having had relationships with both men and women, she found women more sexually attractive and they featured more in her fantasies. Her job at
2363-508: A girl. Reimer underwent sex reassignment surgery at seventeen months and grew up as a girl, dressing in girl clothes and surrounded by girl toys. In the early 1970s, Money reported that Reimer's sex reassignment to female was a success, influencing the academic consensus toward the nurture hypothesis, and for the following 30 years, it became standard medical practice to reassign intersex infants and male infants with micropenises to female. After Reimer tried to commit suicide at age 13, he
2502-477: A homosexual's confidence and he could safely risk my disapproval. Once as I watched a luncheon companion become an effeminate caricature of himself, he apologized, 'It is hard to always remember that one is a man.'" Before Stonewall, " closet " culture accepted homosexuality as effeminate behaviour, and thus emphasized camp , drag , and swish , including an interest in fashion and decorating. Masculine gay men were marginalised and formed their own communities, such as
2641-720: 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 ." The late Greek 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
2780-441: A major role in the behavior of different sexes. The researchers in the lab would inject the pregnant rat with testosterone, which would then find its way to the baby's bloodstream. The females that were born had genitalia that looked like male genitalia. The females in the litter also behaved like male rats and would even try to mount other female rats, proving that biology played a major role in animal behavior. One criticism of
2919-419: 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. ' " Over-refinement, fine clothes and other possessions,
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#17327757685313058-408: A manner that distances the sons from femininity, with Kane stating that "the parental boundary maintenance work evident for sons represents a crucial obstacle limiting boys' options, separating boys from girls, devaluing activities marked as feminine for both boys and girls, and thus bolstering gender inequality and heteronormativity." Many parents form gendered expectations for their child before it
3197-692: A masculine culture and have a higher salary. Leadership is associated with masculinity in Western culture and women are perceived less favorably as potential leaders. 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. Female leaders are more often described by Western media using characteristics associated with femininity, such as emotion. Psychologist Deborah L. Best argues that primary sex characteristics of men and women, such as
3336-435: 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 . Occupational segregation maintains gender inequality and the gender pay gap . Certain medical specializations, such as surgery and emergency medicine , are dominated by
3475-626: A pathological mental illness. The Yogyakarta Principles , a document on the application of international human rights law , provide in the preamble a definition of gender identity as each person's deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth, including the person's sense of the body (which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function by medical, surgical or other means) and other experience of gender, including dress, speech and mannerism. Principle 3 states that "Each person's self-defined [...] gender identity
3614-460: A person's gender identity can develop as early as three years of age. Money also argued that gender identity is formed during a child's first three years. 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. Modern conceptualizations of femininity also rely not just upon social constructions, but upon
3753-937: A person's gender identity is inconsistent with their biological sex characteristics (genitals and secondary sex characteristics ), resulting in individuals dressing and/or behaving in a way which is perceived by others as outside cultural gender norms. These gender expressions may be described as gender variant , transgender, or genderqueer (or non-binary ) (there is an emerging vocabulary for those who defy traditional gender identity), and people who have such expressions may experience gender dysphoria (traditionally called gender identity disorder or GID). Transgender individuals are often greatly affected by language and gender pronouns before, during, and after their transition . In recent decades it has become possible to provide sex reassignment surgery . Some people who experience gender dysphoria seek such medical intervention to have their physiological sex match their gender identity; others retain
3892-432: A result of the new understanding of gender, academic usage of the term sex began to be more restricted to biological aspects, and associated with the choices male and female , while the term gender was associated initially with man or boy , girl or woman . While academic usage of terms man and woman began to diverge at the same time, and become more restricted to concepts related to gender, this distinction
4031-671: A smaller proportion, in the male half. The yin can be characterized as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse, cold, wet, and passive. 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 . According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church , God "is neither man nor woman: he is God". Several recent writers, such as feminist theologian Sallie McFague , have explored
4170-710: A third gender. They are anatomically male but dress and behave in a manner considered typically feminine. According to Tamasailau Sua'ali'i ( see references ), fa'afafine in Samoa at least are often physiologically unable to reproduce. Fa'afafine are accepted as a natural gender, and neither looked down upon nor discriminated against. Fa'afafine also reinforce their femininity with the fact that they are only attracted to and receive sexual attention from straight masculine men. They have been and generally still are initially identified in terms of labour preferences, as they perform typically feminine household tasks. The Samoan Prime Minister
4309-552: A trend towards less well-defined gender roles and identities, as studies of the parental association ("coding") of toys as masculine, feminine, or neutral indicate that parents increasingly code kitchens and in some cases dolls as neutral rather than exclusively feminine. However, Emily Kane found that many parents still showed negative responses to items, activities, or attributes that were considered feminine, such as domestic skills, nurturance, and empathy. Research has indicated that many parents attempt to define gender for their sons in
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4448-482: A variety of social and cultural factors. Despite the terms femininity and masculinity being in common usage, there is little scientific agreement about what femininity and masculinity are. Among scholars, the concept of femininity has varying meanings. Professor of English Tara Williams has suggested that modern notions of femininity in English-speaking society began during the medieval period at
4587-431: A world which is sometimes hostile to them. Gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender . Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the individual's gender identity. Gender expression typically reflects a person's gender identity, but this
4726-459: Is perceived to identify, embody, or express femininely and toward people and objects gendered femininely." Since the 2000s, Peter Hennen 's cultural analysis of gay masculinities has found effeminacy to be a "historically varying concept deployed primarily as a means of stabilising a given society's concept of masculinity and controlling the conduct of its men based upon the repudiation of the feminine". Femboy (alternatively spelled femboi )
4865-464: 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 Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor , primarily signifying a purely effeminate dancer who entertained his audiences with a tympanum or tambourine in his hand, and adopted
5004-490: Is a man who wears flamboyant women's clothing and behaves in an exaggeratedly feminine manner for entertainment purposes. Feminist philosophers such as Judith Butler and Simone de Beauvoir 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
5143-605: Is a modern slang term used to refer to a male who displays traditionally feminine characteristics, such as wearing dresses, skirts, and/or thigh-highs. It is a portmanteau of feminine and boy . The term femboy emerged by at least the 1990s and gained traction online, used in both sexual and non-sexual contexts. Recently, femboys have become increasingly visible due to their inclusion in popular media, and trends such as "Femboy Friday" and "Femboy Hooters". These trends involve self-identifying femboys posting images of themselves in online groups and forums, dressed in feminine clothing or
5282-624: Is also some evidence that some behaviors considered feminine are influenced by both cultural factors and biological factors. To what extent femininity is biologically or socially influenced is subject to debate. 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 . 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
5421-422: Is associated with their birth sex and towards what is associated with their preferred sex. The volume of the central subdivision of the bed nucleus of a stria terminalis or BSTc (a constituent of the basal ganglia of the brain which is affected by prenatal androgens ) of transsexual women has been suggested to be similar to women's and unlike men's, but the relationship between BSTc volume and gender identity
5560-934: 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. 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
5699-915: 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. The Wisdom of God is feminine in Hebrew : Chokmah , 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. In Christian Kabbalah , Chokmah (wisdom and intuition)
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5838-431: Is due to genetic factors, with a small potential influence of unique environmental factors. John Money was instrumental in the early research of gender identity, though he used the term gender role . He disagreed with the previous school of thought that gender was determined solely by biology. He argued that infants are born a blank slate and a parent could be able to decide their babies' gender. In Money's opinion, if
5977-435: Is even born, after determining the child's sex through technology such as ultrasound . The child thus is born to a gender-specific name, games, and even ambitions. Once the child's sex is determined, most children are raised to in accordance with it, fitting a male or female gender role defined partly by the parents. When considering the parents' social class, lower-class families typically hold traditional gender roles, where
6116-522: Is exclusive to humans. In a position statement, the Endocrine Society stated: The medical consensus in the late 20th century was that transgender and gender incongruent individuals suffered a mental health disorder termed "gender identity disorder." Gender identity was considered malleable and subject to external influences. Today, however, this attitude is no longer considered valid. Considerable scientific evidence has emerged demonstrating
6255-506: Is extremely difficult to change gender identity. Martin and Ruble conceptualize this process of development as three stages: (1) as toddlers and pre-schoolers, children learn about defined characteristics, which are socialized aspects of gender; (2) around the ages of five to seven years, identity is consolidated and becomes rigid; (3) after this "peak of rigidity", fluidity returns and socially defined gender roles relax somewhat. Barbara Newmann breaks it down into four parts: (1) understanding
6394-562: Is integral to their personality and is one of the most basic aspects of self-determination, dignity and freedom. No one shall be forced to undergo medical procedures, including sex reassignment surgery, sterilisation or hormonal therapy, as a requirement for legal recognition of their gender identity." Principle 18 states that "Notwithstanding any classifications to the contrary, a person's sexual orientation and gender identity are not, in and of themselves, medical conditions and are not to be treated, cured or suppressed." Relating to this principle,
6533-417: Is neither determined entirely by childhood rearing nor entirely by biological factors. Several prenatal biological factors, including genes and hormones, may affect gender identity. It has been suggested that gender identity is controlled by prenatal sex steroids , but this is hard to test because there is no way to study gender identity in animals. According to biologist Michael J. Ryan , gender identity
6672-487: Is no fine underwear, no pantyhose, no nice lingerie[']" 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." As communist countries such as Romania and
6811-448: Is not always the case. While a person may express behaviors, attitudes, and appearances consistent with a particular gender role , such expression may not necessarily reflect their gender identity. The term gender identity was coined by psychiatry professor Robert J. Stoller in 1964 and popularized by psychologist John Money . In most societies, there is a basic division between gender attributes associated with males and females,
6950-547: Is not necessarily related to a man's sexual orientation. 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. 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. A drag queen
7089-609: Is patron of the Samoa Fa'afafine Association . Translated literally, fa'afafine means "in the manner of a woman." Hijras are officially recognized as third gender in the Indian subcontinent, being considered neither completely male nor female. Hijras have a recorded history in the Indian subcontinent since antiquity, as suggested by the Kama Sutra . Many hijras live in well-defined and organised all-hijra communities, led by
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#17327757685317228-897: Is related to women's and girls' sexual appeal to men and boys. Femininity is sometimes linked with sexual objectification . Sexual passiveness, or sexual receptivity, is sometimes considered feminine while sexual assertiveness and sexual desire are sometimes considered masculine. Scholars have debated the extent to which gender identity and gender-specific behaviors are due to socialization versus biological factors. Social and biological influences are thought to be mutually interacting during development. Studies of prenatal androgen exposure have provided some evidence that femininity and masculinity are partly biologically determined. Other possible biological influences include evolution , genetics , epigenetics , and hormones (both during development and in adulthood). In 1959, researchers such as John Money and Anke Ehrhardt proposed
7367-481: Is still unclear. Similar brain structure differences have been noted between gay and heterosexual men, and between lesbian and heterosexual women. Transsexuality has a genetic component. Research suggests that the same hormones that promote the differentiation of sex organs in utero also elicit puberty and influence the development of gender identity. Different amounts of these male or female sex hormones can result in behavior and external genitalia that do not match
7506-417: Is still under attack, and it has gotten worse. - RuPaul After Stonewall, " clone culture " became dominant and effeminacy is now marginalised. One indicator of this is a definite preference shown in personal ads for masculine-behaving men. The avoidance of effeminacy by men, including gay ones, has been linked to possible impedance of personal and public health. Regarding HIV/AIDS , masculine behaviour
7645-473: 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 made walking difficult and painful. In
7784-457: 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 Chokmah 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
7923-956: Is the result of how females must behave in order to maintain a patriarchal social system . 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
8062-450: Is thus distinct from gender identity in that it is the external expression of gender but may not necessarily portray a person's gender identity and may vary "according to racial/ethnic background, socio-economic status and place of residence." In late-19th-century medical literature, women who chose not to conform to their expected gender roles were called "inverts", and they were portrayed as having an interest in knowledge and learning, and
8201-402: Is widely agreed that core gender identity is firmly formed by age 3. At this point, children can make firm statements about their gender and tend to choose activities and toys which are considered appropriate for their gender (such as dolls and painting for girls, and tools and rough-housing for boys), although they do not yet fully understand the implications of gender. After age three, it
8340-529: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM) is the formal diagnosis of people who experience significant dysphoria (discontent) with the sex they were assigned at birth and/or the gender roles associated with that sex: "In gender identity disorder, there is discordance between the natal sex of one's external genitalia and the brain coding of one's gender as masculine or feminine." The DSM (302.85) has five criteria that must be met before
8479-635: 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. In China, with
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#17327757685318618-469: The Stonewall riots , inconsistent gender role performance had been noticed among gay men : "They have a different face for different occasions. In conversations with each other, they often undergo a subtle change. I have seen men who appeared to be normal suddenly smile roguishly, soften their voices, and simper as they greeted homosexual friends [...] Many times I saw these changes occur after I had gained
8757-708: The UCLA Medical Center for the study of intersex and transsexual individuals. Psychoanalyst Robert Stoller generalized many of the findings of the project in his book Sex and Gender: On the Development of Masculinity and Femininity (1968). He is also credited with introducing the term gender identity to the International Psychoanalytic Congress in Stockholm, Sweden , in 1963. Behavioral psychologist John Money
8896-509: The creation of the Universe . Communist revolutionaries initially depicted idealized womanhood as muscular, plainly dressed and strong, with good female communists shown as undertaking hard manual labour, using guns, and eschewing self-adornment. Contemporary Western journalists portrayed communist states as the enemy of traditional femininity, describing women in communist countries as "mannish" perversions. In revolutionary China in
9035-445: The factitive prefix ex- (from ex 'out') and femina 'woman'; it means 'made feminine, emasculated, weakened'. Other vernacular words for effeminacy include: pansy , nelly , pretty boy , nancy boy , girly boy , molly , sissy , pussy , tomgirl , femboy , 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
9174-484: The leather subculture , and/or wore clothes that were commonly associated with working-class individuals, such as sailor uniforms . 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
9313-731: The women's movement of the 1970s, researchers began to move away from the M–F model, developing an interest in androgyny . 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. Second-wave feminists , influenced by de Beauvoir, believed that although biological differences between females and males were innate,
9452-425: The § 1950s and 1960s , the term gender was used exclusively as a grammatical category . The terms male and man , or female and woman , were used more or less interchangeably when referring to people of one sex or the other. As the term gender took on new meaning following the work of John Money , Robert Stoller , and others, a distinction began to be drawn between the terms sex and gender . As
9591-508: The "Jurisprudential Annotations to the Yogyakarta Principles" observed that "Gender identity differing from that assigned at birth, or socially rejected gender expression , have been treated as a form of mental illness . The pathologization of difference has led to gender-transgressive children and adolescents being confined in psychiatric institutions, and subjected to aversion techniques – including electroshock therapy – as
9730-476: 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
9869-442: The 1960s. To this day they are usually used in that sense, though a few scholars additionally use the term to refer to the sexual orientation and sexual identity categories gay , lesbian and bisexual . Gender expression is distinct from gender identity in that gender expression is how one chooses to outwardly express their gender through one's "name, pronouns, clothing, hair style, behavior, voice or body features." It
10008-603: The Affordable Care Act and extends to "regulations pertaining to access to health insurance." This rule "is one of the many rules and regulations put forward by the Trump administration that defines "sex discrimination" as only applying when someone faces discrimination for being male or female, and does not protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity." Gender dysphoria (previously called "gender identity disorder" or GID in
10147-801: The Apostate , in his Against the Galileans , wrote: ''Why are the Egyptians more intelligent and more given to crafts, and the Syrians unwarlike and effeminate, but at the same time intelligent, hot-tempered, vain and quick to learn?'' 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
10286-455: 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 . Greek historian Plutarch recounts that Periander, the tyrant of Ambracia , asked his "boy", "Aren't you pregnant yet?" in
10425-572: The Reimer case is that Reimer lost his penis at the age of eight months and underwent sex reassignment surgery at seventeen months, which possibly meant that Reimer had already been influenced by his socialization as a boy. Bradley et al. (1998) report the contrasting case of a 26-year-old woman with XY chromosomes whose penis was lost and who underwent sex reassignment surgery between two and seven months of age (substantially earlier than Reimer), whose parents were also more committed to raising their child as
10564-568: The Theory of Sexuality , giving evidence that in the pregenital phase children do not distinguish between sexes, but assume both parents have the same genitalia and reproductive powers. On this basis, he argued that bisexuality was the original sexual orientation and that heterosexuality was resultant of repression during the phallic stage , at which point gender identity became ascertainable. According to Freud, during this stage, children developed an Oedipus complex where they had sexual fantasies for
10703-544: The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights , "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". An intersex variation may complicate initial sex assignment and that assignment may not be consistent with the child's future gender identity. Reinforcing sex assignments through surgical and hormonal means may violate the individual's rights . A 2005 study on
10842-691: The United States, boys are often homosocial , and gender role performance determines social rank. 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,
10981-641: The United States, the Affordable Care Act provided that health insurance exchanges would have the ability to collect demographic information on gender identity and sexual identity through optional questions, to help policymakers better recognize the needs of the LGBTQ community. In 2020, however, the Trump administration finalized a rule that "would remove nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people when it comes to health care and health insurance" in
11120-534: The ability to bear children, caused a historical sexual division of labor and that 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
11259-443: The belief of equality between the sexes had children, especially sons, who displayed fewer preconceptions of their opposite gender. Estimates of the number of people who are intersex range from 0.018% to 1.7%, depending on which conditions are counted as intersex. An intersex person is one possessing any of several variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes , gonads , sex hormones , or genitals that, according to
11398-464: The broken walk, the female attire," as "signs of one who is soft [mollis] and not a real man." 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," and Seneca adds, "If I must suffer illness, it will be my wish to do nothing out of control, nothing effeminately." Emperor/philosopher Julian
11537-479: 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 " bottom ", in same-gender sex was considered effeminate and unnatural. Touching the head with a finger and wearing a goatee were also considered effeminate. Roman consul Scipio Aemilianus questioned one of his opponents, P. Sulpicius Galus: "For
11676-574: The concept of gender, (2) learning gender role standards and stereotypes, (3) identifying with parents, and (4) forming gender preference. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) comprehensive sexuality education should raise awareness of topics such as gender and gender identity. Although the formation of gender identity is not completely understood, many factors have been suggested as influencing its development. In particular,
11815-438: 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. Girls, second-wave feminists said, were then socialized with toys, games, television, and school into conforming to feminine values and behaviors. In her significant 1963 book The Feminine Mystique , American feminist Betty Friedan wrote that
11954-478: The dominant societal constraints that label gender as binary. In scrutinizing gender, Butler introduces a nuanced perception in which they unite the concepts of performativity and gender. Transgender people sometimes wish to undergo physical surgery to refashion their primary sexual characteristics , secondary characteristics, or both, because they feel they will be more comfortable with different genitalia. This may involve removal of penis, testicles or breasts, or
12093-537: The earliest known shamans were female, and contemporary shamanic roles such as the Korean mudang continue to be filled primarily by women. 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 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
12232-514: The early childhood years, and in the majority of instances appears to become at least partially irreversible by the age of 3 or 4". The Endocrine Society has stated "Considerable scientific evidence has emerged demonstrating a durable biological element underlying gender identity. Individuals may make choices due to other factors in their lives, but there do not seem to be external forces that genuinely cause individuals to change gender identity." Social constructivists argue that gender identity, or
12371-466: 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. In many cultures, men who display qualities considered feminine are often stigmatized and labeled as weak. Effeminate men are often associated with homosexuality , although femininity
12510-434: The effect of social factors on gender identity formation. In the 1960s and 1970s, factors such as the absence of a father, a mother's wish for a daughter, or parental reinforcement patterns were suggested as influences; more recent theories suggesting that parental psychopathology might partly influence gender identity formation have received only minimal empirical evidence, with a 2004 article noting that "solid evidence for
12649-508: 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. Shamanism may have originated as early as the Paleolithic period, predating all organized religions. Archeological finds have suggested that
12788-572: The extent to which it is determined by nurture (social environmental factors) versus biological factors (which may include non-social environmental factors) is an ongoing debate in psychology, known as " nature versus nurture ". There is increasing evidence that the brain is effected by the organizational role of hormones in utero, circulating sex hormones and the expression of certain genes. Social factors which may influence gender identity include ideas regarding gender roles conveyed by family, authority figures, mass media, and other influential people in
12927-471: The fashioning of a penis, vagina or breasts. In the past, sex assignment surgery has been performed on infants who are born with ambiguous genitalia. However, current medical opinion is strongly against this procedure on infants, and recommends that the procedure be only conducted when medically necessary. Today, gender-affirming surgery is performed on people who choose to transition so that their external sexual organs will match their gender identity. In
13066-490: The father works and the mother, who may only work out of financial necessity, still takes care of the household. However, middle-class "professional" couples typically negotiate the division of labor and hold an egalitarian ideology. These different views on gender can shape the child's understanding of gender as well as the child's development of gender. A study conducted by Hillary Halpern demonstrated that parental gender behaviors, rather than beliefs, are better predictors of
13205-458: 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. In Taoism , the concept of yin represents the primary force of the female half of yin and yang . The yin is also present, to
13344-641: The figure that the human female presents in society" and "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman". The idea was picked up in 1959 by Canadian-American sociologist Erving Goffman and in 1990 by American philosopher Judith Butler , 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. 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
13483-519: The gender identity outcomes of female-raised 46,XY persons with penile agenesis , cloacal exstrophy of the bladder, or penile ablation , found that 78% of the study subjects were living as female, as opposed to 22% who decided to initiate a sex change to male in line with their genetic sex. The study concludes: "The findings clearly indicate an increased risk of later patient-initiated gender re-assignment to male after female assignment in infancy or early childhood, but are nevertheless incompatible with
13622-399: The genitalia they were born with (see transsexual for some of the possible reasons) but adopt a gender role that is consistent with their gender identity. Within recent years modern society has made strides towards the acknowledgement and destigmatization of those who identify as non-binary or a gender variant, with sex reassignment surgery expected to grow by an annual rate of about 11% from
13761-1247: The glint of legs sheathed in nylon." In communist Poland , changing from high heels to worker's boots symbolized women's shift from the bourgeois to socialism ." 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, requiring good communist women to become "superheroes who excelled in all spheres", including working at jobs not traditionally regarded as feminine in nature. 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
13900-459: 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. 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
14039-493: The idea of gender identity as being biologically rooted, as they do not identify with their anatomical sex despite being raised and their behaviour reinforced according to their anatomical sex. One study by Reiner et al. looked at fourteen genetic males who had suffered cloacal exstrophy and were thus raised as girls. Six of them changed their gender identity to male, five remained female and three had ambiguous gender identities (though two of them had declared they were male). All
14178-531: The importance of postnatal social factors is lacking." A 2008 study found that the parents of gender-dysphoric children showed no signs of psychopathological issues aside from mild depression in the mothers. It has also been suggested that the attitudes of the child's parents may affect the child's gender identity, although evidence is minimal. Parents who do not support gender nonconformity are more likely to have children with firmer and stricter views on gender identity and gender roles. Recent literature suggests
14317-404: The individualized choices made by women. 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. Others, such as Carole Pateman , Ria Kloppenborg, and Wouter J. Hanegraaff , argue that the definition of femininity
14456-414: 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." In ancient Koine Greek, the word for effeminate is κίναιδος kinaidos ( cinaedus in its Latinized form), or μαλακός malakoi : a man "whose most salient feature was a supposedly 'feminine' love of being sexually penetrated by other men": A cinaedus
14595-701: The key to women's subjugation lay in the social construction of femininity as childlike, passive, and dependent, and called for a "drastic reshaping of the cultural image of femininity." Traits such as nurturance, sensitivity, sweetness, supportiveness, gentleness, warmth, passivity, cooperativeness, expressiveness, modesty, humility, empathy, affection, tenderness, and being emotional, kind, helpful, devoted, and understanding have been cited as stereotypically feminine. The defining characteristics of femininity vary between and even within societies. The relationship between feminine socialization and heterosexual relationships has been studied by scholars, as femininity
14734-428: 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?" Roman orator Quintilian described, "The plucked body,
14873-446: 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. 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. In other cultures, however, some expectations are different. For example, in many parts of
15012-446: The males raised as male switched their gender identity. Those still living as females still showed marked masculinisation of gender role behaviour and those old enough reported sexual attraction to women. The study's authors caution drawing any strong conclusions from it due to numerous methodological caveats which were a severe problem in studies of this nature. Rebelo et al. argue that the evidence in totality suggests that gender identity
15151-457: The manual, DSM-III-R , added a third diagnosis: gender identity disorder of adolescence and adulthood, nontranssexual type. This latter diagnosis was removed in the subsequent revision, DSM-IV (1994), which also collapsed GIDC and transsexualism into a new diagnosis of gender identity disorder. In 2013, the DSM-5 renamed the diagnosis gender dysphoria and revised its definition. The authors of
15290-443: The masculinity of every man, or it may represent the disfiguring peculiarity of a small class of deviant individuals." The term effeminiphobia (sometimes effemiphobic , as used by Randy P. Conner) was coined by Will Fellows to describe strong anti-effeminacy. Michael Bailey coined the similar term femiphobia to describe the ambivalence gay men and culture have about effeminate behaviour in 1995. Gay author Tim Bergling popularized
15429-504: The mind". Emperor Marcus Aurelius evidently considered effeminacy an undesirable trait, but it is unclear what or who was being referred to. 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". In
15568-694: The modern feminine ideal of thinness. 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. Some, however, see it as a symbol of objectification and oppression. 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. 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
15707-418: The norm of their sex assigned at birth, and in acting and looking like their identified gender. Social scientists tend to assume that gender identities arise from social factors. In 1955, John Money proposed that gender identity was malleable and determined by whether a child was raised as male or female in early childhood. Money's hypothesis has since been discredited, but scholars have continued to study
15846-525: The notion of a full determination of core gender identity by prenatal androgens." A 2012 clinical review paper found that between 8.5% and 20% of people with intersex variations experienced gender dysphoria . Sociological research in Australia, a country with a third 'X' sex classification, shows that 19% of people born with atypical sex characteristics selected an "X" or "other" option, while 52% are women, 23% men, and 6% unsure. At birth, 52% of persons in
15985-503: The origin of psychic life, and that Freud did not give adequate description to the female child (Freud rejected this suggestion). During the 1950s and '60s, psychologists began studying gender development in young children, partially in an effort to understand the origins of homosexuality (which was viewed as a mental disorder at the time). In 1958, the Gender Identity Research Project was established at
16124-492: The parent ascribed the opposite gender and hatred for the parent ascribed the same gender, and this hatred transformed into (unconscious) transference and (conscious) identification with the hated parent who both exemplified a model to appease sexual impulses and threatened to castrate the child's power to appease sexual impulses. In 1913, Carl Jung proposed the Electra complex as he both believed that bisexuality did not lie at
16263-484: The parent confidently raised their child as the opposite sex from earlier than age two, the child would believe that they were born that sex and act accordingly. Money believed that nurture could override nature. A well-known example in the nature-versus-nurture debate is the case of David Reimer , born in 1965, otherwise known as "John/Joan". As a baby, Reimer went through a faulty circumcision, losing his male genitalia. John Money advised Reimer's parents to raise him as
16402-563: 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". This theory, however, has been criticized on theoretical and empirical grounds and remains controversial. In 2005, scientific research investigating sex differences in psychology showed that gender expectations and stereotype threat affect behavior, and
16541-638: 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
16680-430: 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 and "de-feminise". Before
16819-400: The resolution of conflicts by compromise and negotiation. 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
16958-458: 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. Role congruity theory proposes that people tend to view deviations from expected gender roles negatively. It supports
17097-432: The study were assigned female, and 41% were assigned male. A study by Reiner & Gearhart provides some insight into what can happen when genetically male children with cloacal exstrophy are sexually assigned female and raised as girls, according to an 'optimal gender policy' developed by John Money : in a sample of 14 children, follow-up between the ages of 5 and 12 showed that 8 of them identified as boys, and all of
17236-810: The subjects had at least moderately male-typical attitudes and interests, providing support for the argument that genetic variables affect gender identity and behavior independent of socialization. Gender identity can lead to societal security issues among individuals that do not fit on a binary scale. As of 2022, only 23 states plus Washington D.C. currently have state laws that explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Moreover, only "53% of [the] LGBTQ population live in states prohibiting housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity", while "17% of [the] LGBTQ population lives in states explicitly interpreting existing prohibition on sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and/or gender identity". In some cases,
17375-505: The subjects had moderate to marked interests and attitudes consistent with that of biological males. Another study, using data from a variety of cases from the 1970s to the early 2000s (including Reiner et al.), looked at males raised as females due to a variety of developmental disorders ( penile agenesis , cloacal exstrophy or penile ablation). It found that 78% of those males raised as females were living as females. A minority of those raised as female later switched to male. However, none of
17514-630: The subordination and objectifying of women and self-perpetuated by reproductive competition and women's own aesthetics. 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. 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
17653-425: The subordination of women, as women are seen as more compliant, vulnerable, and less prone to violence. Gender stereotypes influence traditional feminine occupations, resulting in microaggression toward women who break traditional gender roles. 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
17792-483: The term sissyphobia in Sissyphobia: Gay Men and Effeminate Behavior , although it was used before. Transgender writer and biologist Julia Serano has coined the similar term effemimania . Feminist sociologist Rhea Ashley Hoskin suggests that these terms can be understood as relating to a larger construct of femmephobia , or "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone who
17931-802: The time of the bubonic plague in the 1300s. Women in the Early Middle Ages were referred to simply within their traditional roles of maiden , wife , or widow . 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. In 1949, French intellectual Simone de Beauvoir wrote that "no biological, psychological or economic fate determines
18070-437: The time of the study was a blue-collar occupation that was practiced almost exclusively by men. Griet Vandermassen argues that since these are the only two cases being documented in scientific literature, this makes it difficult to draw any firm conclusions from them about the origins of gender identity, particularly given the two cases reached different conclusions. However, Vandermassen also argued that transgender people support
18209-709: The way it is expressed , are socially constructed , determined by cultural and social influences. Constructivism of this type is not necessarily incompatible with the existence of an innate gender identity, since it may be the expression of that gender that varies by culture. There are several theories about how and when gender identity forms, and studying the subject is difficult because children's immature language acquisition requires researchers to make assumptions from indirect evidence. John Money suggested children might have awareness of and attach some significance to gender as early as 18 months to 2 years; Lawrence Kohlberg argued that gender identity does not form until age 3. It
18348-425: The world, underarm hair is not considered unfeminine. Today, the color pink is strongly associated with femininity, whereas in the early 1900s pink was associated with boys and blue with girls. These feminine ideals of beauty have been criticized as restrictive, unhealthy, and even racist. In particular, the prevalence of anorexia and other eating disorders in Western countries has frequently been blamed on
18487-532: The years 2022 to 2030. Although sex reassignment surgery is expected to become more popular, the surgery is still not destigmatized in a lot of countries, including the United States. Such stigmatization has been shown to have adverse health effects on LGBTQ+ individuals, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The terms gender identity and core gender identity were first used with their current meaning—one's personal experience of one's own gender —sometime in
18626-406: Was also instrumental in the development of early theories of gender identity. His work at Johns Hopkins Medical School 's Gender Identity Clinic (established in 1965) popularized an interactionist theory of gender identity, suggesting that, up to a certain age, gender identity is relatively fluid and subject to constant negotiation. His book Man and Woman, Boy and Girl (1972) became widely used as
18765-594: 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 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. Body alteration
18904-562: Was no longer legally restricted to be only between man and woman. No objective measurement or imaging of the human body exists for gender identity, as it is part of one's subjective experience. Numerous clinical measurements for assessing gender identity exist, including questionnaire-based, interview-based and task-based assessments. These have varying effect sizes among a number of specific sub-populations. Gender identity measures have been applied in clinical assessment studies of people with gender dysphoria or intersex conditions. Before
19043-592: Was not universal (and still is not) even in academic usage, and even less so in more informal writing or in speech, which often conflate the two. Some people, and some societies, do not construct gender as a binary in which everyone is either a boy or a girl, or a man or a woman. Those who exist outside the binary fall under the umbrella terms non-binary or genderqueer . Some cultures have specific gender roles that are distinct from "man" and "woman." These are often referred to as third genders . In Samoan culture , or Faʻa Samoa , fa'afafine are considered to be
19182-441: Was stereotyped as being unconcerned about safe sex practices while engaging in promiscuous sexual behaviour. Early reports from New York City indicated that more women had themselves tested for HIV/AIDS than men. David Halperin compares "universalising" and "minoritising" notions of gender deviance: "'Softness' either may represent the specter of potential gender failure that haunts all normative masculinity, an ever-present threat to
19321-506: Was told that he had been born with male genitalia. Reimer stopped seeing Money, and underwent surgery to remove his breasts and reconstruct his genitals. In 1997, sexologist Milton Diamond published a follow-up, revealing that Reimer had rejected his female reassignment, and arguing against the blank slate hypothesis and infant sex reassignment in general. Diamond was a longtime opponent of Money's theories. Diamond had contributed to research involving pregnant rats that showed hormones played
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