I don't see it as weak. I think a lot of people just get the wrong idea when it comes to comparing masculinity/femininity and men/women, and I think this comes mainly from this idea that men and women are the same and are supposed to be held to the same standards.
Our gender roles weren't a product of some artificially created system called "the patriarchy" that only existed to benefit men over women. They were a product of male and female nature.
Most people when it comes to the genders, and in fact many other things, think in terms of modern civilisation. A lot of the beliefs around things like men/women only exist today because of our modern technology and because we live in a relatively safe society. But as humans we haven't "evolved", we still have the same programming and the same biological differences as we did in the past. The advances in technology making things a lot easier cause people to ignore these differences.
Men are physically stronger than women generally, that's a fact. In the past, in harder times when we were at constant war with rival tribes, we had to hunt large dangerous animals, fight off predators, this meant that men had to hunt and protect the tribe. Women wouldn't be strong enough, especially if they were pregnant or nursing one or more small children - and they needed to have children to sustain their tribe. They couldn't get away with many women choosing not to or choosing only to have just one, like we can today.
This is where masculinity/femininity comes from, and it's in our nature, even if people believe that it's no longer needed today which it is - the reason you're safe is because mostly men protect you - just a lot fewer men are needed for those roles than in the past when most would have been.
So masculinity = qualities that would make a good hunter/warrior - strength, courage, competence.
Femininity is more to do with nurturing, caring. Qualities that make a good wife and Mother.
It's an insult to a man to call him feminine because for a man to be useful at least back then he'd have to be strong, brave etc. Or else he'd be useless.
Femininity has never been an insult to women, only ever a positive quality. Only feminists see it as an insult because they have silly views about gender, and somehow think that in order to empower women they have to hold them to a male standard.
There was a time when male and female genders were opposite, and they complimented one another. There was no question about femininity being weak, and it was recognized as an inner beauty, strength, compassion, intuition, and understanding that men did not possess. Men were meant to be masculine to connect with the female to continue the species. I am not attracted to masculine women, and as a single male in my mid-fifties, it makes me deeply sad to see women not wanting to be feminine anymore.
Guys did not want to be called girlish because guys were created to be masculine. That is what makes the species work and continue in harmony. When some women became discontent being mothers is when society started to lose its foundations. If we continue on this current trajectory, the days of romance and wondrous love between men and women could become past memories. What a sad world that would be. We all need to recognize that women have a right to be treated with respect regardless how feminine they are.
Hell naw, women are just weak these days, in thinking that femininity somehow defines us as women.
Femininity just refers to biological di-morphic qualities of our gender.
You can still be taken seriously as a human being regardless if you are tomboyish or vibrantly girly.
Its all judged off your humanistic qualities.
A weak woman is still weak even if she is totally butch, because her core personal foundation is weak.
A strong woman is still strong even if she is a princess dress model because her core personal foundation is strong.
Strong personal foundations come from depths of self awareness, awareness of others, confidence, and a keen ability to judge situations well.
Men are iconic as the leaders and descision makers, which makes it seem such qualities are masculine; thus a woman like this can be mistaken as being less feminine.
In truth, women had to have the same aptitude - these qualities are gender neutral and vary between persons.
Hence why you can have weak men, as well as strong women, but weak men can still be very masculine, and strong women very feminine.
Femininity and masculinity are a phenomenon of the metaphysical which is why its difficult to define.
We do it very basically off pysiology, appearance and character - but these hardly do them justice lol
Yeah this has always really annoyed me. So many women distance themselves from femininity because they believe it's, dumb, vapid, weak and pointless, it's very much an ingrained into the culture that femininity is something to be shunned. I actually blame 3rd wave feminism for instead of elevating femininity it actually tried to force women to reject it. As i've gotten older I've actually come to understand what femininity means, and the answer isn't weakness but a transference of power from direct to indirect. One massive part about femininity is that it is considered as the main judge, the main power that decides life or death. It's no coincidence that Mother earth, is female, a being that is equal parts merciful and uncaring, and has the power to control everything around them. Socialisation and diplomacy, which are cornerstones in our society, basically what separates us from lesser animals is inherently feminine. Health and healing is feminine, why we've considered this less important than violence is confusing to me. Creativity and the arts are inherently feminine, that desire for introspection and thought bred critical thought. To me femininity is culture, wisdom, intelligence, the ability to become more than what nature sets out for us.
That's how society is unfortunately. Being feminine is considered degrading. A man who is feminine and wears things women would typically wear, society considers it gross and below them. But when a girl wears something more masculine it can be more in powering and socially acceptable. Also masculinity is so damn fragile that men have to protect it all the time. From a very young age, boys are socialized to behave a certain way. It's pretty sad
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I think the feminine and the masculine compliment each other, where one is weak the other is strong and so on. They both have their strengths and weakensses.. this issue where women are wanting to be more masculine is feminist idiocy and indoctrination attempting to teach men and women that feminine and masculine are one in the same. That in order to be a fulfilled successful women you need to abandon your family and become a worker bee.. feminists actually shame women that choose to be mothers.. which is very sad, creating a life and guiding that life in to the future is the most important job one can have.. take a look at the statistics some time.. women are more unhappy now than they have ever been through history..
And no. I am not saying women just need to be confined to the home and be mom's. What I am saying is don't shame those that choose that path.
My wife as a for instance.. she doesn't want to be a stay at home mom.. totally respect and support that. And I will not shame her for her choice either.. that would be incredibly wrong.. If one of us had to give up their carreer though it would be her.. this is because I make double what she does.. when she gets out of school that might change and if it does I'd happily give up mine if needed.
Basically back on point, masculine and feminine they compliment each other neither is weaker or stronger than the other.
I think it is a beautiful thing to share with guys. Femininty can seen as creating a gap between sexes. But it's not bad. Embracing you feminine side is part of who you are as a woman. It Should be enjoyed. And men do like women that embrace parts of their feminine side. But I think confidence is also another part. I think we can be done with oh no there's a spider kill it. Just grab a paper towel and smoosh it and throw it in the garbage. Women should also be empowered to fix things around the house. I believe femininty is important but it just has a different context now a days. I think femininty changes as society changes.
This concept like any other one is quite definite, you can't say femininity is different for a woman than it is to another, every woman has her share of the the concept that along with other qualities has developed her character and her type of a woman, there's no woman with 0% femininity and there's no woman with 100% of it, there's always a balance between feminine energy and masculine energy in any human being, probably also species of organisms and maybe even objects.
With neglecting the physical aspect of femininity as for it's obviosity, the essence of femininity is class, which requires self-discipline, which leads to self respect and knowing of self worth. A feminine woman is reserved, emotionally mature, self-caring, humble, merciful, joyful and loving, she's caring and supportive.
That was my understanding to the concept of femininity, hope it's convincing enough.
Femininity is not weakness, though women who are feminine often have a different set of strengths and weaknesses. For one, the phrase 'throw like a girl' is often repeated, mostly by women who are trying to shrug off their feminine characteristics. Unfortunately, it's a biological fact that women are not nearly on the same physical level as men.
Men are great at making fast decisions, and women are great at connecting issues together and coming up with a plan on how to avoid future pitfalls. This is proof that men and women are designed to work with each other. Though today we are competing against each other and every woman thinks she needs to prove herself. Are you going to pay your boyfriend/husbands bills and take care of him financially? Of course not. So it makes no difference to men what you accomplish because they won't reap the benefits the same way women reap the benefits of successful men. You just become roadblock instead of partner in a realtionship.
I think femininity as a term is just a social construct, as well as masculinity.
It's like Yin & Yang in eastern philosophy: "Femininity" (Yin) is considered as weakness.
However, the western terms are contextually wrong. Why? Because...
Heterosexual females can be "masculine" (dominant) - i. e Tomboys.
Heterosexual males can be "feminine" (submissive) - i. e Sissies.
Therefore, terms like "femininity & masculinity" are completely incorrect, they are basically stereotypes of patriarchal society.
Well femininity is supposed to be the yin to masculinity's yang. They're opposites. So if you think masculinity is strength, then femininity would have to be weakness. Now, I don't necessarily think that you have to be "weak" to be considered feminine. I think the whole strength vs weakness dichotomy means more physical weakness than weakness in everything else. Not many people are going to consider a girl feminine if she's benching 300 lbs and regularly arm-wrestles guys bigger than her. However, you can exude strength in other areas like emotional strength, perseverance, and resilience. No guy likes always saving a damsel in distress. I don't think looking at femininity as just weakness and masculinity as just strength is very helpful because they're much more than that. At the end of the day, guys just want a girl who makes him feel like a man (whatever that happens to be), and girls just want a guy that makes her feel like a woman.
Weak isn't how I'd put it. I'd say gentle is a better word. I understand why people think weakness though. Here at G@G a. k. a Femboys 'R' Us, the effeminate guys on this site hardly have an characteristic that you'd see in a male if you disregard anatomy. So in comparison a feminine guy would appear weak to a masculine one but I don't femininity in itself is weakness. It's different for women because they aren't held to the same standard. A woman who likes feminine things likely isn't a weak person, she can be independent and a great leader while still being feminine. A feminine man though likely is all negative traits. On the flipside a masculine female is seen as unappealing, not because of a strong personality but because they likely display traits a man would. I dont think being strong is gender specific
I don't think a woman being very feminine is weak, I just think it is a different kind of strength than masculine strength. Masculine strength I would argue is protectiveness often showing physical strengths. Femininity to me is best shown to me in a woman's bond with her children the way she cares for them I think women have more emotional strength than men. I think both femininity and masculinity are needed and that a world with only masculinity would be harsh, and a world with only femininity would be unprotected.
Physically yes. Women are mostly physically weaker than men. That's not supposed to be insulting, but to be a fact. Else mental they could be equal. I wouldn't consider them as weak. My mother for example is mental a very strong person. Way stronger than my dad is. Both genders have their pros and cons. I would say that women aren't as good in driving cars as men are. They just think a bit differently. Whenever I'm driving with a female and want to park she used to tell me we are too big to get into the parking slot until we are in and she realizes it works. Or that a lot of women have problems to differ between left and right. No idea why it is how it is, but nevertheless I wouldn't consider women or feminity as weak.
Femininity is absolutely NOT weak. A woman can be very feminine and still be a strong person. A very feminine woman can be a doctor, or scientist or CEO or any other demanding profession. Or she might be a stay at home mom whose strength permeates through her whole family. Femininity and strength are not opposite things.
Thank you for posting this question!
I've heard a lot of people decry the decline of femininity, but female-ish things are always put down and considered less than or less valuable (ex: stay at home moms, being emotional, etc). Why would anyone want to identify with something that's considered less than?
I honestly believe you should be whoever you want to be and I see nothing wrong with being feminine especially with a person that you care or are in a relationship with as a guy I'd like to feel something different that im not just hanging out with my best friend but also the person I care for and love and I can be weak to and she can give me the care that I need and when she's feminine I can help her I feel like I have more of a role to do I can treasure her as my emerald making sure nothing hurts her I'm not saying she should not be independent she should do whatever she wants but weakness is being someone you are not for someone else😁
No. I think there are both feminine strengths and weaknesses and masculine strengths and weaknesses, and they compliment each other. Masculine strengths cover feminine weaknesses, just as feminine strengths cover masculine weaknesses. Together, they are a formidable force.
It's when one gender tries to be the other that things get confusing and competitive.
People (especially stupid men) believe that femininity is okay for women to have but not men because they’re “an alpha male”, whatever the hell that means but anyway...
It’s a stupid concept but... I think femininity and masculinity are purely social. Because everyone has met a “more masculine” woman or a “more feminine” man... and it doesn’t mean they’re lesbians or gays, or just means they don’t conform to societal rules
As females, we are the weakest sex. Although, we have our strengths. We can give life, we get periods, we have higher pain tolerance, we can see more colors than men, etc. There's differences to both male and female, its stupid to say that we're completely the same. There's nothing wrong with being feminine. Femininity has grace and beauty, its a good thing.
Since men are so much objectively stronger than women to be called femine is considered weak. I wouldn't say femine is weekness persay but masculinity is all about being strong mentally and physically. Feminity is kind like the opposite of that. Being patient and kind and caring.
I think that part of femonity encapsulates weakness. But I don't think it's a bad thing. Women are biologically weaker than men in some things and stronger in others. "The gentle sex" is a name that had been around for a long time, it's not a slander. Women are more caring, gentle, soft, weak, and loving. I don't see that as a bad thing, it's just how it is
Society is getting worst everyday... I dont wana be compare whit girl because im a man bit i dont say this in a bad way because i like to cook and im not girl or gay... I like to be independant and whit that comes Washing your clothes, cleaning the dish, cooking, cleaning the floor and very much... My opinion is that society have the Fault why? Because most of the time is about The TV MUSIC or even friends is all like a chain... Dont know if i get out of the point if it happen im srry😅
Femininity is being compassionate and it is sad that women would rather go out and be assholes like men it all boils down to the word that the left hates: Biology
Women are designed to care fo children Men are designed to hunt so that they can feed their family. This makes men more aggressive than women and women more compassionate than men
Women should be womanly and men should be manly
Men desire wonemly females
Women are supposed to want manly men
Sadly it's all got fucked up and women now chase pretty boys with plucked eyebrows and skinny jeans.
Women have huge power but they sacrifice it cosbthed rather be the same as men
Men's still under the thumb of women's great power act and dress like girls.
Weird world really
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