Femininity

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Femininity refers to female qualities attributed specifically to women and girls. The complement to femininity is masculinity.

Contents 1 Feminine attributes 2 Feminine archetypes 3 Cultural norms 3.1 Cleavage 3.2 Corsets 3.3 Foot binding 3.4 High heels 3.5 Modest dress 3.6 Neck rings 4 Femininity in men 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Feminine attributes

These are often associated with life-giving and nurturing qualities of elegance, motherhood, birth, intuition, creativity, life-death-rebirth and biological life cycle. The feminine archetype in mythology and world religion, is associated with a natural creative force that has a feminine or maternal function such as Mother Nature, Mother Earth, Great Mother, Great Goddess, and Mitochondrial Eve.

• In Carl Jung's school of analytical psychology, the concept of anima represents the female half of anima and animus.

• In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin represents the female half of yin and yang.

• In Hindu traditions, Shakti is the divine feminine creative power, the sacred force that moves through the entire universe.^[1] She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect, which represents consciousness or discrimination, remains impotent and void.

• In Hinduism, the universal creative force Yoni is feminine, with inspiration being the life force of creation.

• In Hebrew language, the divine presence of God, the Holy Spirit, the Shekhinah is feminine.

• In the belief system of Kabbalah, Binah is the great mother, the feminine receiver of energy and giver of form.

[edit] Feminine archetypes

In psychology, archetypes are unlearned tendencies and a part of the collective unconscious^[2] The main feminine archetypes originally introduced by Carl Jung and often adopted in literature^[3] are patterns of behavior that follow the biological life cycle^[4] of the woman and fall into the following roles:

• The Maiden
• The Mother
• The Crone
• The Queen

[edit] Cultural norms

Cultural standards vary a great deal on what is considered feminine.

[edit] Cleavage

Larger breast size, a trait considered feminine, is suggested by visual clues, such as the cleavage between the breasts. Many women in western culture will emphasize cleavage to enhance femininity. They may do so by means of the cut of the outer wear, and by brassieres (bras) that push the breasts upwards and together. Special pads and inserts in the bra can also be used to aid in the higher positioning of the breasts. Also by surgical augmentation in which the breasts are lifted up and moved closer together.

[edit] Corsets

Throughout history, women (and sometimes men) of many cultures have worn corsets for support and fashion. Contrary to popular belief, historically corsets did not inhibit breath, movement, change skeletal structure significantly, or permanently displace organs. "Tight lacing" was impractical and looked down upon, and therefore it was only practiced by the smallest segment of society.

[edit] Foot binding

For centuries in Imperial China, foot binding, a practice intended to produce smaller feet, which were considered more feminine, produced unnaturally small and deformed feet, where toes often rotted due to lack of circulation.^[5]

[edit] High heels

Modern women often wear high-heeled shoes. The discomfort commonly associated with high-heeled shoes is endured for the visual effect of elongated legs.

[edit] Modest dress

In the Muslim world, women wear a hijab, indicating modesty in feminine dress. Most Islamic legal systems define this type of modest dressing as covering everything except the face and hands in public.^[6][7] A burqa is an outer garment worn over regular clothing when a woman goes out in public and visible to men who are not their husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles, sons and grandsons.

[edit] Neck rings

In parts of Africa and Asia, neck rings still signify femininity.

Early 20th century glamour photography showing cleavage.	Corset	In China until 1911, tiny, unnatural feet were aristocratic and lady like.	High-heeled shoes.
A woman wearing a burqa.	The Kayan people of Northern Thailand associate the wearing of neck rings with aristocratic femininity.

[edit] Femininity in men

Femininity in men, as masculinity in women, is often considered to be negative due to its contradiction of traditional gender roles.

[edit] See also

• Feminine psychology
• Feminization (sociology)
• Gender studies
• Marianismo
• Mitochondrial Eve
• Nature versus nurture
• Sociology of gender

[edit] References

1. ^ Sacred Sanskrit words, p.111
2. ^ http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/jung.html |Personality Theories
3. ^ http://mrob.com/pub/std/archetypes.html |Archetypes in Literature
4. ^ http://www.sandiegotherapists.com/threestages.html |The Three Stages Of A Woman's Life
5. ^ Binding: Bone Breaking Beauty, August, 2009
6. ^ Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2008.
7. ^ Glasse, Cyril, The New Encyclopedia of Islam, Altamira Press, 2001, p.179-180