How Do You Tell Whether Something Is Androgynous Masculine, Or Feminine?

[Guest Samurai_Kid]

I'm a bit gender naive. I don't care for gender or the binary, so I just see people as people.

My sense of femininity and masculinity are more screwed up the the typical kid.

Some people think masculine stuff looks ambiguous, others think the opposite, etc.

[Guest Zolrek]

Wait, so how do you not have basic opinions on what is masculine and feminine, how is it screwed up? That's all you have been talking about since you started too post here; what is masculine and what is feminine. A good example is the vegetarian thread, clothing, walking and your posts about how you feel feminine not masculine(then your thread about how you feel masculine that contradicted how you feel feminine) etc. In none of them did you say "I'm not sure if this is feminine or masculine" and all of them it has been the very basic, simple minded views of what is precepted as masculine and feminine traits in society and not exactly in modern society all the time. I wouldn't call it naive views either as some still see it that way in places like the bible belt in the USA.

[Guest Samurai_Kid]

I meant in most peoples minds.

I see something as androgynous, they see it as boyish. I see something as androgynous, they see it as girly.

[Guest Zolrek]

Your views are not screwed up more then most kids of the age 9-13. Their the same as a basic kid if not the same as a large amount of society that doesn't think past the basics in a first glance.

Bottom line: You know what you're talking about and you know what you're doing.

[Guest Samurai_Kid]

They are as far as I know.

I see basically everything in a gender neutral way.

Back to the question. What makes something masculine, feminine, and neutral?

[Guest Zolrek]

I see basically everything in a gender neutral way.

From what you have posted since you got here that doesn't make sense.

Back to the question. What makes something masculine, feminine, and neutral?

Peoples opinions and society which differs between countries.

[Guest kelise]

I have a headache.

[Guest Zolrek]

I have a headache.

I normally have a coffee too fix mine...I suppose that's a bad thing though.

[Guest CalvinFTM]

(hands kelise an aspirin bottle)

I don't think you're trolling on purpose, Samurai, but if you reflect back on your previous posts, they don't make a heck of a lot of sense. It's like you're asking people to answer unanswerable questions, or questions that contradict each other.

In any case... I don't think it matters what anyone considers masculine or feminine - we are who we are, we do the things we do.

Try Googling "gender binary," "feminine traits," and "masculine traits."

[Guest kelise]

Thanks guys! (pops an aspirin and washes it down with coffee)

[Guest KimberlyF]

Where's Ashton Kutcher???

[Guest kelise]

In the van across the street...Oh, crap! I wasn't supposed to say that!!

[JJ]

Ashton Kutcher with coffee and aspirin?

I need to go get my other glasses-something must be out of focus.

[Guest Zolrek]

Where's Ashton Kutcher???

On a computer.

Bazinga!

[Guest JaniceW]

Ashton Kutcher with coffee and aspirin?

I hear a rumor that someone is giving away Aston-Martins and all I find is Ashton Kutcher taking an aspirin.

[Carolyn Marie]

Back to the question. What makes something masculine, feminine, and neutral?

Here you go, Kid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender

After you've read up on it, let us know if you have any questions. Happy reading!

Carolyn Marie

[Guest Elizabeth K]

Kid

Sometimes I just scratch my head when you post a TOPIC. One TOPIC seems to contridict the other, and so many just don't have a real answer. I doubt you are doing this on purpose, as I would hate to think Laura's is being used for frivilous reasons.

So

"How do you tell whether something is androgynous, masculine, or feminine?"

You can't.

Lizzy

[Guest Micha]

Okay. . . I don't really know what's going on here, but whatever.

Evan said something about masculinity that struck a cord with me. Something along the lines of it's just "doing what makes you feel masculine." Same with femininity, or androgyny. If doing something, wearing something or thinking something makes you feel the way you want to feel, then it's right for you, regardless of how it's "defined."

I wrestled over and over with what it is that makes me feel anything but masculine, why I don't feel like a guy. I could give some stereotypical answers, but that wouldn't satisfy me. Thing is, I was wrestling with my own discomfort with being strictly male. I don't really know what that qualifies as, but I do know I've been dealing with it for a long time, and that's about what lead me here in the first place. Still don't have the answers to a lot of my questions, but people here have a way of taking the importance away from the aesthetic and placing it more upon the actual individual, the person you are. So those questions seemed a lot less important, and I started accepting my traits, without knowing whether they were masculine or feminine or androgynous, as mine; a part of me, something that makes me who I am. That alone makes me feel warm, even in the face of uncertainty.

[Guest symempathy]

If doing something, wearing something or thinking something makes you feel the way you want to feel, then it's right for you, regardless of how it's "defined."

Exactly! I myself cannot define what is feminine and what is masculine. It is more of a feeling of belonging to that gender expression.

However, I have admit that what I feel feminine or masculine is influenced by the way I was raised. Vietnam society at my time was quite gender specific. I was nurtured in that environment; hence, I define the feelings that I have feminine. I'm sure that many straight men in American society behave like I do but don't see that behavior feminine.

I used to say that if you see me in real life, you may only see a sensitive and emotional guy; you may not see an androgyne who has a mixture of both femininity and masculinity. Although I don't understand what Samurai's point is, I can somewhat relate his confusion over this gender expression. Sometimes even we cannot understand ourselves.

[Guest TigerFoxMatt]

Nothing has an actual 'gender', the way I see it. As many said, what is masculine vs. what is feminine is something that has been constructed by society. Sports (as an example) are considered masculine because most people view them that way. It's all based on stereotypes; to play sports someone has to be tough and athletic, and that is what the stereotypical male is.