Women's Masculine Side: Exploring Beyond the Clothes

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In summary, it can be difficult to tell if a man has a feminine side, but if he enjoys extensive self-reflection and communication, it may be a sign he does.
  • #1
wolram
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I often hear about men having a feminine side, what ever that is, I am sure i do not have one.
Do women have a masculine side? well many women wear mens clothes is that an indicator?
 
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  • #2
No one is purely masculine or feminine. Those are ideals that don't exist in reality. Each one is somewhere on the continuum. It's a theoretical construct similar to "pure" temperaments in psychology.
Men can be caring and gentle, women can be ambitious and fighters or explorers. Maybe wearing men's clothes can be viewed as a masculine trait, but it doesn't have to be, depends on culture and fashion at the time. For example, I consider trousers a unisex clothing and I wear them because they are comfortable, not because I identify myself as a man.
There were exceptions in the past, such as Scottish men wearing quilts, togas that resemble more woman's dress than men's clothes and women used to wear trousers in Sahara to protect themselves against sand. So it's quite relative with the clothes.
At the same time, if one intentionally wears clothing that is not typical of their gender in their culture, then it might be a sign that they are closer to the other side of gender spectrum.
My personal belief, however, is that there are statistically significant differences between the genders and in general, needs, expectations and attitudes of men and women are different.
 
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  • #3
Sophia said:
No one is purely masculine or feminine. Those are ideals that don't exist in reality. Each one is somewhere on the continuum.
I'd go further to wonder whether the traditionally labeled masculine and feminine traits even exist.
 
  • #4
russ_watters said:
I'd go further to wonder whether the traditionally labeled masculine and feminine traits even exist.

What do you mean?
 
  • #5
Sophia said:
What do you mean?
You gave these examples:
Men can be caring and gentle, women can be ambitious and fighters or explorers.
Who decided which are masculine and which are feminine to begin with?
 
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  • #6
russ_watters said:
You'll gave these examples:

Who decided which are masculine and which are feminine to begin with?

That's a good question. :)
I guess these kinds of characteristics are something that is naturally present in the society and consciously and/or unconsciously taught to children so they are prepared to take their expected role in the culture. It may be something similar to teaching people how to behave in a role of a mother, father, a friend, an ideal leader, ideal worker, citizen, etc... None of these things really exist, but during history each culture tries to define these ideals in order to create a functional society that operates based on some relatively stable principles.
Who defines these ideals? Well, in the case of male and female it is obviously partially based on physiology and evolution, it may also come from experience, myths, or ideology. Some of the characteristics remain stable during millenia, some may change faster as the culture evolves.
I often observe how parents teach the stereotypes to their children. I sell children's magazines and it is interesting to watch how parents either approve or disapprove if their young child chooses a magazine (usually containing a toy- car, train or princess tiara and pink magical wand) for the other gender. I watched it several times how they intentionally bring "suitable" toys to children's attention and how they try to persuade them to change their mind if they choose "wrong" item. In some parents, I can intuitively sense the fear of their son becoming a gay, while in others it seems so natural that they don't even think that their child could enjoy playing with unsuitable toys. As might be expected, from my observation, there is a higher chance that a girl will eventually get a car than that a boy will get pink fairy wings.

edit: I must also say that from what I've seen the wast majority of children instantly chooses a toy "suitable" for their gender.
 
  • #7
wolram said:
I often hear about men having a feminine side, what ever that is, I am sure i do not have one.
Do women have a masculine side? well many women wear mens clothes is that an indicator?
A (female) friend of mine once told me I'd have a strong feminine side. If so, it didn't pay out well ...
 
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  • #8
Isn't that what gender studies are about?
 
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  • #9
I am totally baffled by this masculine or feminine thing i have not witnessed a feminine male, how can one tell if a man has a feminine side?
 
  • #10
wolram said:
How can one tell if a man has a feminine side?
If he does not talk but instead "communicates" and he also enjoys extensive self-reflection, then you may be on to something.
 
  • #11
wolram said:
I am totally baffled by this masculine or feminine thing i have not witnessed a feminine male, how can one tell if a man has a feminine side?
 
  • #12
Krylov said:
If he does not talk but instead "communicates" and he also enjoys extensive self-reflection, then you may be on to something.
Reminds me on the following dialogue I've had:
Someone: "I have told you so!"
Me (and someone else): "When? Hey, dude, we're guys. You got to shout it!"
 
  • #13
Krylov said:
If he does not talk but instead "communicates" and he also enjoys extensive self-reflection, then you may be on to something.

Men often talk at each other, it is less threatening. It is especially easy to see those patterns on here. Women prefer to talk with each other. Huge difference in preferred methods of communication.
 
  • #14
There are dispositions of all types, ranging from gentle, kind and amiable [and 47 other salient traits] to rough, surly and stubborn [and 47 other salient traits].

Somewhere, someone decided that the ones at one end of the bell curve were defined as feminine and the ones at the other end were defined as masculine.

There may be a strong correlation, but that is not causation - or definition.
 
  • #16
Men socialize by insulting each other, but they don't really mean it.

Women socialize by complimenting each other, and they don't mean it either.

wolram said:
I am totally baffled by this masculine or feminine thing i have not witnessed a feminine male, how can one tell if a man has a feminine side?

Wolly, I strongly suggest you read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender
 
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  • #17
Borek said:
Men socialize by insulting each other, but they don't really mean it.

Women socialize by complimenting each other, and they don't mean it either.

Quite true, a discussion isn't a good discussion before you insult someone in a good-natured way.
E.g. someone burned his hand a few days ago and he'll be clumsy (and other more colorful descriptions) until the end of time (around next week usually). In a discussion about whatever construction one's doing this comes up all the time.
 
  • #18
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  • #19
Where I'm from, the sexes are very much distinguished. Nearly all women here have what we refer to as feminine wiles or "psychic-like powers" of persuasion, using empathy and being able to read a situation or person. We don't use it for our own selfish gain, like eliciting attention from males (pretending to be all sweet and considerate)- we call that, playing the damsel or may consider them a social opportunist, but as a way to improve a situation for those around us. Women that don't take care of their appearance, like always wearing jeans, are often labeled as lazy here. I even had a man tell me once that the first thing he paid attention to on a woman is how much effort she put into taking care of herself, because that means she probably keeps the *rest* of her body clean and manicured. It makes sense.

The definition of femininity varies all over the world though, so it may not be that way somewhere else. The highly educated but family-oriented Southern Belle is an icon for many women in my area. We exaggerate everything towards the feminine side, especially our accents. These women enjoy being feminine, we don't consider it a weakness. I cannot recall ever seeing a man clean an entire house, they don't usually do housework here (doing something a man doesn't want to do gives her some serious power in the relationship). When something exciting happens, we jump up and down about it- men don't usually do that... Most people have both masculine and feminine traits, I think labeling someone with that is simply assigning which 'default' character they use the most. As far as daily goings, I usually reside in the middle or the 'feminine' default, depending upon which hat I'm wearing. I can be too assertive at times, but that is also a trait mothers have to learn. I can be quite aggressive when I sense people of low character.

Hard as Oak and Sweet as Honeysuckle.
 
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  • #20
Fervent Freyja said:
Where I'm from, the sexes are very much distinguished. Nearly all women here have what we refer to as feminine wiles or "psychic-like powers" of persuasion, using empathy and being able to read a situation or person. We don't use it for our own selfish gain, like eliciting attention from males (pretending to be all sweet and considerate)- we call that, playing the damsel or may consider them a social opportunist, but as a way to improve a situation for those around us. Women that don't take care of their appearance, like always wearing jeans, are often labeled as lazy here. I even had a man tell me once that the first thing he paid attention to on a woman is how much effort she put into taking care of herself, because that means she probably keeps the *rest* of her body clean and manicured. It makes sense.

The definition of femininity varies all over the world though, so it may not be that way somewhere else. The highly educated but family-oriented Southern Belle is an icon for many women in my area. We exaggerate everything towards the feminine side, especially our accents. These women enjoy being feminine, we don't consider it a weakness. I cannot recall ever seeing a man clean an entire house, they don't usually do housework here (doing something a man doesn't want to do gives her some serious power in the relationship). When something exciting happens, we jump up and down about it- men don't usually do that... Most people have both masculine and feminine traits, I think labeling someone with that is simply assigning which 'default' character they use the most. As far as daily goings, I usually reside in the middle or the 'feminine' default, depending upon which hat I'm wearing. I can be too assertive at times, but that is also a trait mothers have to learn. I can be quite aggressive when I sense people of low character.

Hard as Oak and Sweet as Honeysuckle.

If I may ask, where are you from?
 
  • #21
Fervent Freyja said:
Where I'm from, the sexes are very much distinguished. Nearly all women here have what we refer to as feminine wiles or "psychic-like powers" of persuasion, using empathy and being able to read a situation or person. We don't use it for our own selfish gain, like eliciting attention from males (pretending to be all sweet and considerate)- we call that, playing the damsel or may consider them a social opportunist, but as a way to improve a situation for those around us. Women that don't take care of their appearance, like always wearing jeans, are often labeled as lazy here. I even had a man tell me once that the first thing he paid attention to on a woman is how much effort she put into taking care of herself, because that means she probably keeps the *rest* of her body clean and manicured. It makes sense.

The definition of femininity varies all over the world though, so it may not be that way somewhere else. The highly educated but family-oriented Southern Belle is an icon for many women in my area. We exaggerate everything towards the feminine side, especially our accents. These women enjoy being feminine, we don't consider it a weakness. I cannot recall ever seeing a man clean an entire house, they don't usually do housework here (doing something a man doesn't want to do gives her some serious power in the relationship). When something exciting happens, we jump up and down about it- men don't usually do that... Most people have both masculine and feminine traits, I think labeling someone with that is simply assigning which 'default' character they use the most. As far as daily goings, I usually reside in the middle or the 'feminine' default, depending upon which hat I'm wearing. I can be too assertive at times, but that is also a trait mothers have to learn. I can be quite aggressive when I sense people of low character.

Hard as Oak and Sweet as Honeysuckle.

Wow this is Utopia, give me some of that:biggrin:
 
  • #22
Fervent Freyja said:
Women that don't take care of their appearance, like always wearing jeans,
I find this a very odd remark. Equating wearing jeans with not taking care of one's appearance.

Where I come from that may have been true near the middle of last century, when jeans were work clothes, but nowadays, jeans are de rigueur and very fashioanble (and can cost in excess of $500).

StatGuy2000 said:
If I may ask, where are you from?
Dunno, but these two comments suggest American South:
Fervent Freyja said:
The highly educated but family-oriented Southern Belle is an icon for many women in my area.
...
Hard as Oak and Sweet as Honeysuckle.
 
  • #23
StatGuy2000 said:
If I may ask, where are you from?

Southeastern US.
 
  • #24
Borek said:
Men socialize by insulting each other, but they don't really mean it.

Women socialize by complimenting each other, and they don't mean it either.
23711.jpg

Nice hat.
 
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  • #25
wolram said:
I often hear about men having a feminine side, what ever that is, I am sure i do not have one.
Do women have a masculine side? well many women wear mens clothes is that an indicator?

Many women would often say a man is metro if they tend to have more of the feminine tendencies. It's not always a bad thing to be metro, same with women that sometimes have a masculine side. I personally like a man with a metro side. Means they take care of themselves and typically care what others think about them too and won't let themselves go over the years. Just a personal preference though, lol.
 
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1. What is meant by a woman's "masculine side"?

A woman's "masculine side" refers to qualities and characteristics that are traditionally associated with masculinity, such as strength, assertiveness, and independence. These traits are not exclusive to men and can be embodied by women as well.

2. How does exploring beyond traditional feminine clothing contribute to understanding a woman's masculine side?

The clothes we wear can often reflect certain gender norms and expectations. By exploring beyond traditional feminine clothing, a woman can challenge and break free from these societal expectations and express her more masculine qualities through her appearance. This can also lead to a deeper understanding and acceptance of her masculine side.

3. Is a woman's masculine side the same as being transgender or non-binary?

No, a woman's masculine side does not necessarily mean she identifies as transgender or non-binary. Gender identity is a complex and personal experience, and a woman can embrace and express masculine traits without identifying as anything other than a woman.

4. Are there any negative consequences to a woman embracing her masculine side?

Unfortunately, societal norms and expectations can lead to negative consequences for women who embrace their masculine side. This can manifest in discrimination, stereotyping, and prejudice. However, it is important for women to express themselves authentically and confidently, regardless of societal pressures.

5. Can a woman have both a masculine and feminine side?

Absolutely! Gender is not a binary and individuals can possess qualities and characteristics that are traditionally associated with both masculinity and femininity. A woman can embrace and express both her masculine and feminine sides, and this can contribute to a more well-rounded and empowered sense of self.

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