Femininity (also called feminity,girlishness, womanliness or womanhood) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with girls and women. Femininity is socially constructed, but made up of both socially-defined and biologically-created factors. This makes it distinct from the definition of the biological female sex, as both males and females can exhibit feminine traits. People who exhibit a combination of both masculine and feminine characteristics are considered androgynous, and feminist philosophers have argued that gender ambiguity may blur gender classification.
Traits traditionally cited as feminine include gentleness, empathy, and sensitivity, though traits associated with femininity vary depending on location and context, and are influenced by a variety of social and cultural factors. In some non-English speaking cultures, certain concepts or inanimate objects are considered feminine or masculine (the counterpart to feminine).
History
Tara Williams has suggested that modern notions of femininity in English speaking society began during the English medieval period at the time of the bubonic plague in the 1300s.Women in the Early Middle Ages were referred to simply within their traditional roles of maiden, wife, or widow. After the Black Death in England wiped out approximately half the population, traditional gender roles of wife and mother changed, and opportunities opened up for women in society. Prudence Allen has traced how the concept of "woman" changed during this period. The words femininity and womanhood are first recorded in Chaucer around 1380.
In linguistics, grammatical gender is a specific form of noun-class system in which the division of noun classes forms an agreement system with another aspect of the language, such as adjectives, articles, pronouns, or verbs. This system is used in approximately one quarter of the world's languages. In these languages, most or all nouns inherently carry one value of the grammatical category called gender; the values present in a given language (of which there are usually two or three) are called the genders of that language. According to one definition: "Genders are classes of nouns reflected in the behaviour of associated words."
Common gender divisions include masculine and feminine; masculine, feminine and neuter; or animate and inanimate. In a few languages, the gender assignment of nouns is solely determined by their meaning or attributes, like biological sex, humanness, animacy. However, in most languages, this semantic division is only partially valid, and many nouns may belong to a gender category that contrasts with their meaning (e.g. the word for "manliness" could be of feminine gender). In this case, the gender assignment can also be influenced by the morphology or phonology of the noun, or in some cases can be apparently arbitrary.
A woman is a femalehuman. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. The term woman is also sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age, as in phrases such as "women's rights". "Woman" may also refer to a person's gender identity. Women with typical genetic development are usually capable of giving birth from puberty until menopause. In the context of gender identity, transgender people who are biologically determined to be male and identify as women cannot give birth. Some intersex people who identify as women cannot give birth due to either sterility or inheriting one or more Y chromosomes. In extremely rare cases, people who have Swyer syndrome can give birth with medical assistance. Throughout history women have assumed or been assigned various social roles.
Etymology
The spelling of woman in English has progressed over the past millennium from wīfmann to wīmmann to wumman, and finally, the modern spelling woman. In Old English, wīfmann meant "female human", whereas wēr meant "male human". Mann or monn had a gender-neutral meaning of "human", corresponding to Modern English "person" or "someone"; however, subsequent to the Norman Conquest, man began to be used more in reference to "male human", and by the late 13th century had begun to eclipse usage of the older term wēr. The medial labial consonants f and m in wīfmann coalesced into the modern form "woman", while the initial element, which meant "female", underwent semantic narrowing to the sense of a married woman ("wife"). It is a popular misconception that the term "woman" is etymologically connected with "womb", which is from a separate Old English word, wambe meaning "stomach" (of male or female; modern German retains the colloquial term "Wampe" from Middle High German for "potbelly"). Nevertheless, such a false derivation of "woman" has appeared in print.
Woman is a 1918 American silent film directed by Maurice Tourneur, an allegorical film showcasing the story of women through points in time. Popular in its day, the film was distributed in the State's Rights plan as opposed to a major distributor like Paramount or Universal. This film has been preserved in private collections and in major venues like the Museum of Modern Art and reportedly the Gosfilmofond Archive in Russia.
Some scenes were shot at Bar Harbor, Maine. It was here that one of Tourneur's cameramen, John van den Broek, lost his life while filming a scene close to the raging Atlantic Ocean. His body was swept out to sea and never found.
Prints of this film are held at Cineteca Del Friuli, Germona, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Gosfilmofond of Russia, Moscow.
Plot
As described in a film magazine, a modern man and woman quarrel and, in reaction to his wife, the husband recalls all the women in history who have failed their husbands or lovers. Being in an unpleasant state, he recalls Adam in the garden with a very vain Eve who disports herself in a Broadway fashion and causes the downfall of caveman-like Adam. Then he dwells on the hideous betrayal of Claudius by an unfaithful Messilna. Next he recalls the useless ruination of Abelard by the charming Heloise. Following this episode he remembers Cyrene and the fisherman, where the wife basely deserted her husband and children to swim once more in her seal skin that had been hidden from her for many years. A particularly disagreeable episode in which a young woman during the American Civil War sacrifices a wounded soldier for a bauble. After this the modern woman returns and pins up a Red Cross poster, and the modern man sees the many women of today as more or less uninspiring. An epilogue noted how World War I made men realize the true value of women, and that women are working towards victory through good works in the Red Cross and other jobs.
Woman (여 - Yeo) is a 1968 three-part South Korean film directed by Kim Ki-young, Jung Jin-woo and Yu Hyun-mok. The film was based on ideas of Kim Ki-young's wife, Kim Yu-bong, and Kim directed the last third.
Synopsis
The film is a melodrama about a man who falls in love with a woman while traveling to Seoraksan. The man becomes infatuated with the woman's hair. The woman, who has a terminal illness, promises to leave her hair to the man after she has died. Later the man finds that the woman has died, and her hair has been sold to someone else. He then has a romantic relationship with another woman who turns out to be his mother.
In the morning she'll show you how much she loves you And when the night comes you need to show her too You got to touch her in that way don't you ever stop loving her And that's how a woman wants to be loved by her man Now any old fool can stay through the good times And any old fool can run out on her So you got to buckle up and face that stormy weather together And that's how a woman wants to be loved by her man There's a place Lord there's a place where a man can't go She said, "you better not put your hands on me unless you, unless you're ready to love me" And that's how a woman wants to be loved by her man And that's how a woman got to be
During a recent interview, the actress opened up about feminism and gender equality and stated that a woman doesn’t have the option to view the world from anything other than a feminine lens.
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A woman who spent six and a half years as a man has 'detransitioned' back to a woman — after having five breast reconstruction surgeries and spending $4,000 on laser hair removal ... 'I think I just realized I wanted to be a woman again.
It was a big risk." Haider moved into an airy warehouse, which was once used by Victorian seamstresses, and worked at realizing clothes to fit his idea of femininity.
Participants will be guided on how to discover the true strengths of a woman, embrace their feminine energy, and reconnect with their innate wisdom.Kopa Mall in Koregaon Park is hosting creative workshops on Lippan art and Waz Wizards candle making.
“A feminist is any woman who tells the truth about her life.'- Virginia Woolf5. “Each time a woman stands up for herself she stands up for all women'- Maya Angelou6. “One is not born a woman, but becomes one.” –Simone de Beauvoir7.
those nagging ‘tells’ that signify male—for example unusually narrow hips, large hands, or an Adam’s apple for a man presenting as a woman,” as those tells stand in direct contradiction with the ...
One that is increasingly rejecting outdated notions of femininity, fragility and women’s place in sport ... Yet by confronting these prejudices, she offers the world a new example of what a woman’s body – and a woman’s power – can look like and do.
Kamali’s Chloé woman moves through time, referencing history but never stuck in it, just like the women who sat in the front row, Jerry Hall and Georgia May Jagger, icons of past and present Chloé cool.
I prefer the elegance, simplicity – and yes, femininity – of a dress, paired with matte tights in the winter and bare legs in the summer months ... In 2025, it shouldn't be surprising that a woman can have style, sex appeal and substance.
And so, He uses masculine language as well as images like “King” and “Father” and less frequently feminine images like “God who gave you birth” (Deuteronomy 32.18) or God as a “woman in labor” (Isaiah 42.14) to reveal His relationship to us.
“If you look like a woman but are a man that’s not seen very well in the eyes of God ... As she began thinking about her future as a woman, she also desired a new feminine name ... founded and run by a Salvadoran trans woman.
Sarasota Arts and Culture Events to Watch in 2025 ... Wright Museum ... Your “Divine Love” series reimagines the Virgin Mary as a vulnerable, young Black woman ... I’ve always painted the feminine experience – and my own experience ... But I proved them wrong ... No.
Growing up, I knew deep down that I had to create something unique, something that would capture the essence of my femininity and the other, perhaps hidden, sides of myself,”.
