Performing Femininity

[apple_pathways]

(Disclaimer: Dudes, I want your opinions, too. I know there's, like: two of you who read my journal regularly. But don't feel left out if it seems I'm only talking to the ladies!)

The subject has come up elsewhere, and it's been on my mind recently: what is femininity? Is it the traditional, stereotypical traits that have historically been prized in women? (And in whose history?) Has the definition evolved significantly over time, or are we still stuck in an antiquated frame of mind? Which qualities are absolutely necessary in order to be considered feminine, and which are optional?

Are you offended when certain traits, interests, or qualities are described as masculine or feminine? As for myself, whenever I've taken any sort of "Male or Female" brain test, I've always skewed slightly toward the masculine side of the scale. (Including when I took such a test in college as a research participant for credit in my psychology class.) It does bother me when people say I "think like a guy", but I do realize that when it comes to science, they're speaking about statistical norms, which I'm cool with, because I like math. :P (Even though, as a child, I got much more attention for my writing abilities than I did my mathematical skill.)

(If anyone else is interested in taking a test based on "male vs. female" brain science, here's a really good one from the BBC. Save it for when you have some time, though, as there are multiple parts. Though I do believe you can save each section as you finish.)



[Poll #1749763]

Also, I'd like to know: how well do you fit into (what you perceive to be) your culture's definition of 'masculine' or 'feminine'? What do you think of others who are unable to adhere to your culture's rules? How many of the differences between men and women come from biology, and how many are culturally constructed?

I'll provide my own responses once I've had some sleep!

Comments

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I kind of made that transition poorly there. That was meant to be a jump to your last "where do you fit in" question, not a response to the test... I know the test is for male set-up vs. female set-up brain workings, and not societal femininity vs. masculinity (goshdarnit, why do we not have more specific words for things like this yet? It's something we really need to get on top of, as a society. (-;) I think what I'm challenging about the word-association thing is that it doesn't scale for people who write habitually. Which brings it back to people on extreme ends of the scale, I suppose. I was just surprised that that made the difference between me being brain-neutral and being in the feminine camp, when so many of my scores were decidedly on the masculine end of things (especially since my hands are apparently exceptionally masculine--my ring fingers are almost a full centimeter longer than my index fingers. And I have no brothers (at least, not by my mom, which is what counts on that.)). It makes me wonder how things are weighted.

The 'systemizing' task wasn't really a task. The questions were mixed in with the 'empathizing' questions in the "Do you agree/slightly agree/etc." section. I can see that format working for empathy, since it's something that's internal--it is what you think--but systems are something inherently external. Though I guess they don't have to be--you can imagine your own systems to organize the world... but most of the questions had to do with things like maps and stereos, rather than a desire to organize the world internally, so from certain angles it boiled down to a "Girl interests and boy interests!" sort of section.

It does kind of make me curious how much of the feminine vs. masculine brain aptitude is hormonal, as opposed to inherent (genetic) brain structure (and this may be a shortcoming on my part--I dunno how much of brain structure is affected by hormones during development), as opposed to practice and learning. Surely someone somewhere has done this kind of test on transsexuals before and after hormone therapy (but I'm not having an easy time finding it. Also, the only study wikipedia mentions on transsexual brain chemistry only studied MTF transsexuals.) And how do you even design a brain-workings test that doesn't end up biased by the masculine/feminine in society vs. masculine/feminine in the... er... brain. (Methinks the problem here is that they called the two types of thinking after the sexes they are most often seen in. But then that comes back to how much of it really is genetically/hormonally ingrained. ... I'm not entirely sure where I'm headed with this, so I'm going to finish this comment so I can skip to your other comment and complain about bras some more.)

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Ok, I remember the 'systemizing' part now. Yeah, I have no interest in cars or stereos, so that's out for me; I'm fine with maps, but bad at navigation in general! (I can read a map no problem, but I can't make a picture in my head of actual 3D...life. I routinely get turned around less than a mile from my house. True story.) I love systems when it comes to organizing data (can you tell?), but have no need for organization when it comes to the physical things in my life. (Clutter is my friend, damn it!)

I don't remember what they were on about with the finger lengths, but my index and ring fingers are pretty much the same length, with my index finger on my right hand being slightly longer. (Am I a freak?) I have a brother, but he's younger. I do remember that having older brothers is a (slight) predictor for being gay for men. Interestingly, my aunt has 3 sons, but it's the oldest who's gay. /anecdotal evidence

I know that hormones do play quite a significant part in brain development in utero, but I don't know much of an effect they have after that. If you find the sort of studies you're looking for, I'd be interested to know. (I wonder if I can still log into EMUs databases? I'll have to try that out later.)