I do think there is a major distinction, but I’m still grappling with it. These days I think that masculinity and femininity are facades we construct, and are about appearance and aesthetics – not necessarily gender. Masculinity seems to be about the beauty of strength and ruggedness. Femininity seems to be about the beauty in grace, gentleness, and delicacy. And each individual, regardless of gender, has some of both. We may emphasize more of one or the other, depending upon our own personal views and the way we wish to be treated by others.
Being a woman is more than being feminine, I think. But I’m not as clear on how to define it.
One of my friends once told me that men get intimidated by her because although she is a woman, some of the men found her to be quite masculine. So I guess people do see a distinction.
I grew up thinking I wasnt that feminine but whenever I'd tell people that they'd say I was quite feminine. smack
it's a hard concept to define in this day and age. i mean in the 18th and 19th century, it was so well defined what meant being feminine. being feminine meant being a woman, and both of those things were so intertwined. it was the way the woman sat, the way she talked, the way she walked, the way she held her self, and every single aspect of her life.
now i guess we are losing those definitions of femininity, and are making new definitions for what constitutes as feminine. i mean i can't help but think of avril lavigne in her video for girlfriend. i mean as punky and rowdy as she is in that video, that is in some way so feminine, with the way she's dancing and her new dress sense. i mean some time ago, the punk "costume" was not considered feminine. in the same way, there are some girls who can be dressed as girly as possible, but you can totally tell that they are more on the side of being a tom-boy than a girl.
i think being feminine now has less to do with how you dress, and more to do with the way you are. i mean dressing is not completely out of the picture. a lot of who we are is how we dress, but now femininity is the way you are.
^ That's an interesting distinction. I see that too. I wonder why something that is so associated with womanhood -- femininity -- is in such opposition with the concept of womanhood itself?