Effeminacy

Effemination.a (Latin effeminatus, effeminate ',' effeminate ' ) denotes femininity and femininity of behavior, appearance or attitude of mostly males, but also by companies or objects. The ancient Greek word for a feminine man is μαλακός malakos, soft '.

Etymology

The term " effemination.a " comes in the etymological sense of the Latin term effeminatus, effeminate ',' effeminate '. Effeminatus is a participle, which has become independent in the Latin language in its linguistic history development as an adjective.

Effeminatus considered a participle is a participle passive in the nominative singular masculine, effeminare from the verb (stem forms effemino, effeminavi, effeminatum ) effeminate '. The verb effeminare in turn is a compound of the prefix ex, out ',' out ' [ Assimilation ( phonology ) as articulatory simplification, ex became ef, aligned with the subsequent -f] and the noun femina, woman ' ( cf. feminine ); So do to a woman ',' effeminate ',' pamper '.

In other Indo-European languages ​​are also still show the parallels to the Latin verb effeminare, for example, to effeminate (English), effeminare ( Italian), afeminar ( Spanish) or efféminer (French).

Effemination.a in behavior

Effemination.a the man contradicts the traditional male gender role is in society and rarely accepted. Especially heterosexist and heteronormative attitudes and prejudices here are a strong influence, but also the fact that boys usually specify their rank among each other based on the fulfillment of male behavior patterns. It is also possible through forced feminization, usually as a punishment, such as the radish punishment in ancient Greece.

Effemination.a is sometimes also associated with male homosexuality.

The counterpart to Effeminität is virility (see also Tomboy ).

Physical effemination.a

Due to diseases such as cirrhosis and hypogonadism or other forms such as testosterone deficiency or hormone replacement therapy using estrogens may cause physical changes that can make a man act androgynous or effeminate. Most are administered such as the genetically caused Klinefelter's syndrome as a balancing testosterone and other hormone preparations.