Tuesday, August 14, 2007

What does it mean to be "effeminate"

I'm off from work today, so don't worry, I'm not going to get fired for these posts.

I saw Richard Simmons on the Today Show this morning -- and I respect that guy so much. He just seems like so much fun -- and he has devoted his life to helping people feel better about themselves.

He is, however, one of those types of guys who tend to get the title "effeminate."

Human personality is a fascinating subject. What makes one man deep in voice, broad in shoulder and rough-and-tumble in his habits, and another high-pitched, somewhat lispy and an aficianado of things typically considered to belong to a Woman's world, such as high fashion and dieting?

The irony is that both men could be gay or they could both be straight, or the "masculine" man might be gay and the other a father of three -- you can't predict such a characteristic based on apparent "manliness" or being "effeminate."

It takes all kinds of people to make up our world and I am glad for the Richard Simmons' in it.

5 comments:

Mermaid Melanie said...

I have to agree, I am grateful for a world that allows people like Richard Simmons to be in our repertoire. And the brawny guy... meow.

Eastcoastdweller said...

I'm glad. We need a world where Women are as free as men to love sports, auto repair and mud bogging; and men are free to love shopping, flowers and style without being looked down upon.

And where if a man loves a man or a Woman loves a Woman, that is no one's business but their own.

Wanderlust Scarlett said...

What a lovely quilt of humanity we have, don't you think?


Scarlett & V.

Eastcoastdweller said...

Scarlett: We do indeed, although a few of the threads do clash.

Rebecca said...

we DO need a world where such gender stereotypes are no longer so confining.