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Femininity & Masculinity as a Fluid Concept:
Femininity & Masculinity as a Fluid Concept:
There are two definitions of masculinity and femininity:
1. the traditional way of presenting feminine or masculine in terms of the laid by the social construct of a gender binary, predetermined by sex assigned at birth.
2. the non-traditional/anti-constructive way of true self-expression, that allows you to choose your own labels, terms, and definition's for that expression
When we typically think about the feminine or the masculine, we likely each have different visions for what each word means and the several ways of expressing oneself. Both of these traits/attributes are always overlapping and intertwining into all of our lives, so its unlikely that you ever only feel one of them. Many people are uncomfortable with confronting their definitions and desire to appear a specific way that holds a masculine or feminine feeling, and how it may impact them negatively. When we deconstruct gender, we understand that gender itself doesn't really exist, no more than we want it too. It's important that we keep in mind that there is nothing inherently feminine or masculine and those words can describe the same action, presentation, or trait.
For example, for an AFAB person, having a menstrual cycle may feel feminine or masculine, it may hold attributes that we feel as masculine, but those same attributes may make someone else feel feminine. Defining femininity and masculinity is hard, but to properly understand and use these words we have to fully understand the context of these words.
Understanding Modern Effects of Interpreted/Assigned Femininity and Masculinity:
Understanding Modern Effects of Interpreted/Assigned Femininity and Masculinity:
As we grow up there are a lot of ways that we imprint on another, and on the larger scale there are social systems (societal norms) that imprint on us as well. Some of these social systems are effective by having us make assumptions about our life's purpose. To have a gender or sexual identity is completely up to you, and don't really carry any weight that you don't want them too. There is fluidity in any identity because all of us learn over time who we are and how we want to be in the world.
All of these terms and understandings come from our prior knowledge of Sexism and its place as a Social System. Sexism has primarily been used in our history to prioritize the white wealthy male ideals which caused women to be abused and seen as property until the more recent century. This is not to ignore the tole sexism has taken on the male community. Femininity and Masculinity are uniquely used against people to make it seem as though your sex at birth has any implication in the way your life must go, or what roles you must take. When it comes to the ways these ideals can affect us mentally, we have to try really hard to evaluate the ways it has impacted us so far.
Also many AFAB individuals are expected to act as though they don't menstruate in all professional or public settings. Even in some private areas or around conservative family members, women are expected to completely ignore the presence of their menstrual cycles and it's implications on daily tasks.
Traditional Gender Roles (Gender Binary)
Traditional Gender Roles (Gender Binary)
Disclaimer: All of these are realities sold to us by sexism, pushed via male-led religion and government, and overarchingly stem from Christian colonization and the ensuing white supremacist, cishetero-patriachy, for the purpose of creating disproportionate power structures that benefit some, while others suffer. No role or task is specific to any identity of sex or gender; however, many people inappropriately assigned specific roles based on social constructs.
Masculine (male) Roles
Masculine (male) Roles
Sole Monetary Provider: Job Holder
Wealth Source
Leaders/ Moral Authority
Fit for Governing/Interpretting and Writing Law
Father: Discpline and Family Leader
Hard Laborers
Founders, Business Owners
Artisans, Designers, Creators
Emotionless/ Not impacted by emotion
Soldiers/ War-worthy (sacrificed)
Seen as Capable of Decision Making
Protector, Warrior, Husband
Self-Sufficient, while being primarily reliant on AFAB people and women for 'domestic labor'
Godly, Religious Readers and Writers
Not impacted by, or responsible for, pregnancy, childbirth, or child care
Feminine (female) Roles
Feminine (female) Roles
(Roles frequently held by women and AFAB people as unpaid positions.)
Domestic Laborers
Housekeepers, Cleaner, Cook
Organizer, Planner, Curator
Mothers, Nurturing, Emotional labor
Weavers, Gatherers, Herbalists
Childcare Providers, Nannies, Teachers
Family Planning, Homemakers
Emotional Labor/Therapy Providers
Girl-boss: Perceived Success
Submissive, Conforming, Wife
People who Experience Pregnancy
Low-impact/ not hard laborers
Management of Social Conflicts
Sexual Objects, source of male pleasure
Toxic-Masculinity
Toxic-Masculinity
These are dangerous and harmful beliefs upheld by Toxic-Masculinity, they should always be actively avoided by all people.
Traits of the roles listed above.
Violence and abuse is valid for processing their emotions; Counterparts should give space for that behavior.
Keep short clean hair styles, very little expression.
Assumed to prefer 'hard sciences,' rather than 'social sciences', as a way of delegitimizing the 'social sciences' that call out this system of oppression.
To dress in (dark) colors, and patterns that represent the ideal male style or status in the current age. Often blue/green/black is assigned to masculinity and traditional AMAB expression. (Very little expression of self, only status and identity.)
Anti-femininity, considered to opposed to anything that may identify them as feminine.
(Sometimes incorrectly referred to as "Toxic-Femininity")
(Sometimes incorrectly referred to as "Toxic-Femininity")
These are dangerous and harmful beliefs upheld by Internalized Sexism, they should always be actively avoided. It's important to remember that to classify certain behaviors as 'toxic-femininity' we are truly talking about how these oppression systems force AFAB and femme people to act and express themselves in a specific predetermined way. That predetermined way is the dangerous and harmful belief often lead by (the counterpart) toxic-masculinity's roots in the patriarchy (Internalized Sexism).
Traits of Roles listed above
Toxic masculinity - Wikipedia.pdfInternalized sexism - Wikipedia.pdfDeconstructing/Decolonizing the Gender Binary:
Deconstructing/Decolonizing the Gender Binary:
Throughout European colonial history people believed that there are two genders, man and women. Gender is a societal construct that allows it only to exist as well as people choose to believe in it, and follow patriarchal values. The belief that there are only two genders, directly stems from the misheld belief that there are only two sexes. Even though there are two ends of the biological sex spectrum, it doesn't mean that there is not an array of biological expressions in between. While sex is never a determination of gender, biological sex can greatly impact the way we interact with the construct of gender, and aspects of self expression. It's important that we keep in mind the ways that people are forced into gender roles, and gender norms, without their consent by their society and community. However, that doesn't mean that sex=gender, and gender should never be a glorification of sexual biology over self expression. When anyone is expressing themselves genuinely, gender is not really present. Gender is a gaze and construct assigned to a type of expression. Even our descriptor words for these things are not exclusive to gender, such as: 'feminine', 'masculine', 'beautiful', 'handsome'. In fact the social gendering of these words is done through societal constructs being replicated and upheld. For many people, fully deconstructing gender can be a hard mental task- especially when we believe so much of our identity is assigned to gender; however, the fact remains that from a biological, neurological, and gender studies perspective, you are without gender right now, other than what society has assigned to you based on your visible sex characteristics (eg. hair growth patterns, breasts and genitalia, etc)
Historically in societies under religious colonization, the way you were raised, the color of your sheets, the job you had (or weren't allowed to have), and the life you were allowed to lead as a whole, was all determined by your sex. Sex, as a form of identity, has often taken the name of gender as well; however, gender is a construct that relies on societal enforcement assigning it to your identified-at-birth-sex. Now this can get tricky to understand, but it's often easiest when we fully separate sexual (sex-assigned-at-birth) and gender (how one expresses oneself) identities. That doesn't mean that the two groups don't heavily overlap, it just means that they are inherently separate and are applied differently to our lives. To live life in any physical body comes with a lot of nuances and differences in that experience in comparison to any other body, and to flatten that experience based on an incorrectly held societal definition of a biological sex binary, does no service to the truth of human diversity.
The constructs of gender impact both AMAB and AFAB people in society via enforcement via patriarchy, but there is a need to highlight not just the historic rates of violence against AFAB people across society, but to particularly hold space for the context of the weaponization of our own reproductive system against us in the context of sexual assault, pregnancy, and access to reproductive healthcare.
Expanding on Lateral Violence Between the Sexes Under Patriarchy:
Expanding on Lateral Violence Between the Sexes Under Patriarchy:
Society creates these gender roles for us to play into, and with enforcement via the power structures inherent to colonial, patriarchal capitalism. While we frequently discuss the harms of men and cis-hetero individuals in general under patriarchy, both AFAB folks and many groups within LGBTQIA2S+ circles who are seen by many to be 'queering' from 'traditional values' (Christian heteronormative monogamy), are often active participants as reinforcers of the harms of gender roles, against both AFAB and AMAB individuals.
This can look like 'toxic masculinity' and 'toxic femininity' (internalized sexism) in action, with people acting out patterns of gendered behavior against each other; for example, a transmasculine individual recreating harmful toxic masculine dynamics such as refusing to participate with household tasks that have a feminine association under patriarchy, such as cooking or cleaning, or a woman attempting to gain power in a space by playing into standard femininity to appeal to existing male-dominated power structures or by attempting to recreate those power structures by acting as a "girlboss", which actually usually ends up modeling 'authority' off of toxic masculine behaviors such as domination and aggression. As a further example, transfeminine people can sometimes tend to lean into either toxic feminine or masculine behaviors as a way to attempt to reclaim power under patriarchy that is stripped from them when they reject their masculine assigned gender at birth. Some cishet men will also perform femininity in order to gain appeal/power with women/in queer spaces for personal or particularly sexual gain. On the flipside, many men like to use the way that we all can tend to play into patriarchy in these ways as justification for the continuation of it, and even as a inlet for them to blame non-men and queer individuals for its existence in the first place.
AFAB: Assigned Female At Birth, this is a term that includes the majority of women who identify as cisgender women, the trans men, and non-binary folks, who are effected by the ownership of a traditionally female body at birth
AMAB: Assigned Male At Birth, this is a term that includes the majority of men who identify as cisgender men, the trans women, and non-binary folks, who are effected by the ownership of a traditionally male body at birth.
Intersex: There are also individuals who are intersex- or have some/all of both traditional sex characteristics, many people are born this way and some even never find out. Intersex individuals have the right to live in their bodies however, and as whomever they feel is right. As we briefly mentioned, many people have a slight variation and never find out they are intersex, because of the stimagtization of deciding sex on outward developing body parts.
Misogyny - Wikipedia.pdfTransmisogyny - Wikipedia.pdfHow do Sexuality and Gender Interact?
How do Sexuality and Gender Interact?
Gender and Sexuality will always over lap because they are constructs we have yet to breakdown and understand. All of us love people and are attracted to different individuals, but none of us want to be persecuted for that love or the people our family and friends choose to love. We may not always see it but gender identity can have a huge affect on the ways in which identify in our sexuality and both of these things are fluid. Fluid meaning they can change with different stages of life and experiences. Our experiences during sexual activities can change or roles can change dependent on your wants and needs in the sexual interaction; these can also occur with changes in gender identities as well. Sometimes sexual needs changes as changes in gender appear as well, and these are not things to ever feel ashamed of, but to embrace and communicate your way throught your wants and needs.
Gender heavily affects all of our lives because of the systems that we all facilitate by participating in several of the social systems advertised to us each day. While it may be something we can't easily break free of, we all can take time to discover who we really are, and what constrains of the jugdement might you face. None of us should feel as thought we can't comfortably be who we are just because of the possible reaction from the peers around us. Yet daily people are indeed harrassed for these very things, and a way we can combat this is by checking in on our queer friends and family to make sure that when we see people in need that we do not stand by, but run and rush to anyone's aid. You would always rather be an over cautious friend, than a bystander to a hate center crime.
Other pages like this:
Other pages like this:
There is always more research being done!
There is always more research being done!
If you would like to help us write about commonly silenced areas or personal experiences you may have with these topics, contact us at thisisactivism2023@gmail.com or fill out our Comments page. We want our website to be a continuous growth of knowledge to share with each other in a positive way. There are so many things we don't talk about and we should!
There is always more research being done!
There is always more research being done!
If you would like to help us write about commonly silenced areas or personal experiences you may have with these topics, contact us at thisisactivism2023@gmail.com or fill out our Comments page. We want our website to be a continuous growth of knowledge to share with each other in a positive way. There are so many things we don't talk about and we should!
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