Attributed Meanings of Masculinity and Femininity

I see gender more as a combination of two aspects: masculinity and femininity. I might have a particular percentage of masculinity and a particular percentage of femininity within me, even though I am  biologically spoken a woman and thus female.Back to the basics I: SexBack to the basics II: Gender  Still, here in my blogs I will use particular meanings of masculinity and femininity.  These are character-traits attributed in the west for centuries to masculinity  and femininity Whether this is correct or not and whether you agree with this or not, at least you know then, what I am talking about, when I am using these terms.

Masculinity

Masculinity I perceive here as:

• goal-oriented
• directed towards results
• visual oriented
• rational
• logical
• short-cut and short-term thinking
• instrumental thinking
• power of acting

Why we call this masculinity is that this capacity in its fullest percentages is mostly seen in biological men.

Femininity

Femininity I perceive here as:

• people-oriented
• directed towards consensus
• language oriented
• intuitive
• taking the perceptions of others into account, empathic
• trying to take care of future generations
• trying to take care of the interests of children
• power of receptivity

Our brains and development of traits

So far what we here femininity is in its highest percentages mostly seen in biological women and masculinity in the highest percentages mainly in men. Yet, there are also many people in the middle, biological men and women with quite an equal percentage of masculinity and femininity.  (see recent brain research; read for instance Martine Delfos, Een vreemde wereld en Autisme vanuit een ontwikkelingsperspectief).

Yet, it is probably also something that you can work on or develop further, as my friend Ingrid says. She argues that femininity was something that she ignored for a great part of her life. Now that she pays attention to it, it seems to grow.

The problem lies in the one-sided character traits within decision-making bodies

To be sure: masculinity and femininity are in principal positive capacities and to build an ideal world, we need both capacities. Thank goodness, that we are all different and have different percentages of masculinity and femininity within us!

It only goes wrong if we have a group of people ruling the world for a very long time that have a very high percentage of masculinity of femininity. Unfortunately, that has been the case for a long time. The result has been a one-sided world.

Especially in decision-making bodies the rulers were people who scored very high on masculinity and very low on femininity. This has had major impact on the world with as consequences many wars, the reaping of the earth, little consideration for the interests of future generations and of women.  High time to make more use of the capacity of femininity, by women and by men!