Feminine Females Research Articles

Recalled Childhood Separation Anxiety in Relation to Sex, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity in Thailand

ABSTRACT Same-sex sexual attraction is an evolutionary paradox. It is influenced by genes but also associated with reduced reproduction. An altruistic disposition toward kin could increase relatives’ reproduction, thus addressing this paradox. Developmentally, such a disposition may manifest as anxiety during separation from kin. This hypothesis has been supported among androphilic (i.e. sexually attracted to males) males, but few similar studies of gynephilic (i.e. sexually attracted to females) females exist. We examined recalled childhood separation anxiety in Thailand and employed the largest and most sexually and gender-diverse sample to date (N = 1403). Among heterosexuals, men recalled less concern for parents’ and siblings’ well-being during separation than women. Androphilic males evidenced elevated concern for parents’ and siblings’ well-being during separation, and transfeminine androphilic males known as sao praphet song reported heightened anxiety when separated from parents. Among females, transmasculine gynephilic females known as toms recalled less concern about parents’ well-being during separation than feminine females who are attracted to toms and known as dees. Bisexual women recalled less anxiety when separated from parents than dees and lesbian and heterosexual women. These findings suggest a disposition toward heightened kin-directed altruism is evident in childhood among androphilic males, but not gynephilic females.

Heterosexual Men's Visual Attention to Nude Images Depicting Cisgender Males, Cisgender Females, and Gynandromorphs.

Gynandromorphophilia refers to sexual attraction and arousal to feminine males, who may or may not have breasts, and who retain their penises. Previous research has suggested that some capacity for gynandromorphophilia may characterize males who are gynephilic (i.e., sexually attracted and aroused to adult females). This study examined Canadian cisgender gynephilic men's (n = 65) visual attention and subjective ratings of sexual arousal when presented with nude images of feminine males with, and without breasts, masculine males, and feminine females. Visual attention was assessed using an infrared eye-tracker. Subjective arousal to feminine females was highest, followed by subjective arousal to feminine males with breasts, feminine males without breasts, and masculine males. However, subjective arousal to feminine males without breasts and to masculine males did not differ significantly. The patterning of visual attention to images of females was unique, in that participants were equally likely to attend first to the face, chest or genitals. These areas also elicited relatively greater fixation durations and counts. Although participants fixated onto the chests of feminine males with breasts for longer durations than those of masculine males, most of the differences between feminine males, with and without breasts, were non-significant. These results suggest that female sex-based traits play a more primary role in gynephilic men's sexual arousal than feminine gender-based traits.

Significance of Gender Differences on Housing in Nigeria: a Case Study of Osun State University Osogbo

In many cases, housing designs are gendered in tune with societal expectations from both sexes. However, existing research shows that gender transcends mere classifications into male and female. Based on the nexus between gender and housing, a clear contextual understanding of the dynamics is vital to housing policies and design. This study, therefore, examines gender-based responses to housing attributes by deconstructing gender into the degree of masculinity or femininity rather than just being male or female. Upon a successful pilot study, questionnaire-based primary data were obtained by multi-stage sampling technique from 222 staff members of Osun State University Osogbo. Secondary data were obtained from the Academic Planning Unit of the University. Data obtained were descriptively analysed. Findings show similarities and differences based on gender (male/female) and gender identity. Gender similarities and differences were found in the importance of housing attributes, the perceived impact of housing attributes on domestic tasks, and the desirability of housing attributes. Results also show that respondents with Feminine Female (FF) gender identity placed high importance on housing attributes required to support frequently performed domestic tasks. In addition, only FF considered the availability of neighbourhood markets and schools (D= 0.02) highly impactful on household tasks. The study concluded that responses to housing attributes are gendered with variations concerning gender, gender identity and gender roles. It further established a relationship between responses to housing attributes and the domestic gender roles of respondents in the study area. Therefore, the study recommends adequate attention to gender in housing design, policy and process.

Att förkroppsliga Shakti

In recent years, contemporary tantra, sometimes referred to as “neo-tantra” has spread substantially throughout Sweden. Emphasizing intimacy and polarity as means to healing and liberation, the movement tends to highlight ideals of “masculine males” and ”feminine females”, while identifying women with Shakti (creativity/immanence) and men with Shiva (consciousness/transcendence). This text examines the use of polarity and more precisely notions of femininity within Swedish contemporary tantra, using qualitative interviews. The purpose is to analyse the relationship between tantric femininity/femininities and the agency and subjectivity of female practitioners. The material is construed from a critical feminist theoretical framework, taking its point of departure in the concept of plural and positional femininities as well as Luce Irigaray’s “sexual difference” (Irigaray 1994) and Rosi Braidotti’s ”nondual materialism” (Braidotti 2011). Irigaray’s position as being one of essentialism is discussed and related to her ventures into yogic and tantric practice. The study suggests that Swedish contemporary tantra in many ways fortifies gender-stereotypical views on femininity while the question of the effects on women’s agency and subjectivity is discussed and left open for further research.

Direct Reproduction and Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity in Thailand.

Human same-sex sexual attraction is considered to be an evolutionary paradox. This paradox rests on same-sex attracted individuals having lowered direct reproduction, indicating reduced direct fitness of genes that influence same-sex attraction. Yet, relatively few empirical studies have examined the relation between same-sex sexual attraction and direct reproduction. The present study examined direct reproduction (i.e., number of children produced) in a diverse Thai sample (N = 1623) of heterosexual men and women, gay and bisexual men, and lesbian and bisexual women, as well as unique Thai gender categories: sao praphet song (i.e., feminine androphilic third-gender males), toms (i.e., masculine gynephilic third-gender females), and dees (i.e., feminine females who are sexually attracted to toms). In males, heterosexual men were more likely to have produced children than other groups, especially as they aged, and none of the gay men or sao praphet song reported having children. In females, there was some degree of reproduction in each of the groups considered. On average, heterosexual and bisexual women had similar numbers of children, whereas heterosexual women had significantly more children than lesbian women, toms, and dees. Number of children was significantly positively associated with age among heterosexual women, bisexual women, toms, and dees. With age, the discrepancies in average number of children produced between heterosexual women and each of lesbian women and toms became significantly more pronounced. Discussion focuses on how these findings, in conjunction with those of prior studies, inform our understanding of evolutionary selection pressures related to human same-sex sexuality.

Androgyny eliminates sex differences in emotional reactivity: ERP and network coupling evidences

The role of gender role in interpreting sex differences in emotion is unknown. The present study examined how gender role moderates sex differences in emotional reactivity. Event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded in sixty-eight subjects with typical or androgynous gender roles when they passively observed neutral and negative pictures. Behaviorally, typical females (feminine females) reported higher emotional rating than typical males (masculine males), while androgynous males and androgynous females reported no significant differences. Electrophysiologically, we found higher late positive potential (LPP) amplitude in typical females compared to typical males, while this pattern of sex difference was absent in androgynous subjects. The network analysis of EEG data indicates that typical males showed enhanced network coupling strengths between frontal/prefrontal and parietal areas than typical females, which was again absent in androgynous subjects. These findings suggest that gender role is an important determinant in the interpretation of sex differences in emotional reactivity.

Analysis of mathematical ability based on gender

The purpose of the study was to analyze the mathematical abilities of students of mathematics education regarding gender and personality. Mathematical abilities include the ability to explore, speculate and logical reasons for solving routine and non-routine problems. While gender is a cultural concept that is used to identify differences regarding roles, behaviours and others between male and female that develop in a society based on social engineering. This study is descriptive research. The subjects of this study were 38 students of mathematics education department of Universitas Halu Oleo, consisting of ten male and 28 female. Based on gender tests, it will be classified into four types: masculine male, feminist male, masculine female, and feminine female. Based on the results of the analysis through a mathematical ability test, it can be concluded that there are differences in mathematical abilities based on gender.

Effects of cognitive schemas on children's testimony for a simulated juvenile crime

This investigation examined immediate and seven-week delayed recall by 104 children (ages 6 to 8 years) for a simulated misdemeanor bicycle theft in which gender-role characteristics and sex of criminal were manipulated (i.e., masculine male, feminine male, feminine female, masculine female). Children recalled criminal appearance, central crime, peripheral crime well; only the latter declined over time. Crime and criminal recall showed a same-sex bias, male-as-criminal preference, and higher rates when thieves exhibited gender-role consistent characteristics. Children relied on their crime, criminal, and gender schemas to help them to process the theft. Criminal justice implications for eyewitness testimony findings are provided.

The influence of masculinity and femininity in responses to sex appeal advertising

This study examined the influence of gender identity on the effects of sex appeal advertising using a two (low/high nudity level of sex appeal) by two (male/female model) between-group factorial design. The results of this study are as follows. Firstly, both males and females strongly favored sex appeal advertisements (ads) with more, rather than less nudity. Secondly, whereas male respondents were more attracted to opposite sex (female) models than same sex models in sex appeal ads, female respondents were not influenced by the model’s sex. Thirdly, male respondents reacted differently to sex appeal ads given their gender identity. A significant difference was found between the androgynous and the feminine groups; androgynous males showed the most positive attitude toward sex appeal ads and feminine males showed the least positive attitude. Finally, both male and female respondents’ attitudes toward sex appeal advertising exhibited a significant interaction effect between gender identity and the model’s sex. Both androgynous males and females showed more positive attitudes toward opposite sex models, whereas feminine males and females showed more positive attitudes toward models of the same sex as their own.

One Is Not Born A Woman, But Becomes One: Gendered Patterns of Women Subordination in India

One is not born a woman, but becomes one was very correctly put into words by the famous existentialist feminist Simone de Beaviour to explain the gendered patterns of women subordination in society whereby women are assigned the position of subordinate others. Although gender is the secondary construction of patriarchal society, it is intruded over the natural biological sex due to which, men are assumed as the masculine male and women as the feminine female. In the process of gendered construction, men are socialized to dominate because their character is shaped by boldness, roughness and aggressiveness. In contrast, women are socialized to tolerate those dominations, because their character is shaped by softness, shyness and patience. Within the dominant discourses of a patriarchal society like India, gender is internalized by both the sexes through their masculine and feminine traits. This is the reason why women remain submissive throughout their life, sometimes being a traditional good wife who tolerates the tortures inflicted upon her by husband or in-laws in the form of domestic violence and sometimes being an ideal mother who silently accepts the decisions of her son and sometimes as a victim who remain silent even being raped or harassed sexually. These roles are sanctioned socially through various social institutions thereby, glorifying wifehood and motherhood. This paper is an attempt to bring forth the psychological, ideological and cultural bases of this process of naturalization of women subordination in a gendered and patriarchal society like India, where women silently accept their submissive position in state, society and culture.

Red is Romantic, but Only for Feminine Females: Sexual Dimorphism Moderates Red Effect on Sexual Attraction

Previous researchers have documented that the color red enhances one's sexual attraction to the opposite sex. The current study further examined the moderating role of sexual dimorphism in red effects. The results indicated that red enhanced men's sexual attraction to women with more feminine facial characteristics but had no effect on ratings of perceived general attractiveness. Red clothing also had a marginally significant effect on men's sexual attractiveness. In addition, regardless of sexual dimorphism cues, male participants rated women with red as warmer and more competent. The underlying mechanisms of the red effect, the limitations of the current study, and suggestions for future directions are discussed.

Eyewitness testimony for a simulated juvenile crime by male and female criminals with consistent or inconsistent gender-role characteristics

Eyewitness recall by 60 adolescents and 60 young adults in Experiment 1 and by 64 children and 63 preadolescents in Experiment 2 for a simulated theft in which gender-role characteristics and sex of criminal were manipulated (i.e., masculine male, feminine male, feminine female, masculine female) was investigated. Gender-role flexibility impacted on crime details and accuracy for criminal features and children's reports included fewer crime and criminal features and central crime details than did preadolescents. Children's gender-role beliefs differentially affected errors made when describing criminals with inconsistent gender-role characteristics. Adolescents provided fewer crime and criminal details and criminal features than did young adults, although both converted inconsistent into consistent gender-role information for the “feminine male” criminal. Forensic implications of the findings are discussed.

Attractiveness and sexual behavior: Does attractiveness enhance mating success?

If attractiveness is an important cue for mate choice, as proposed by evolutionary psychologists, then attractive individuals should have greater mating success than their peers. We tested this hypothesis in a large sample of adults. Facial attractiveness correlated with the number of short-term, but not long-term, sexual partners, for males, and with the number of long-term, but not short-term, sexual partners and age of first sex, for females. Body attractiveness also correlated significantly with the number of short-term, but not long-term, sexual partners, for males, and attractive males became sexually active earlier than their peers. Body attractiveness did not correlate with any sexual behavior variable for females. To determine which aspects of attractiveness were important, we examined associations between sexual behaviors and three components of attractiveness: sexual dimorphism, averageness, and symmetry. Sexual dimorphism showed the clearest associations with sexual behaviors. Masculine males (bodies, similar trend for faces) had more short-term sexual partners, and feminine females (faces) had more long-term sexual partners than their peers. Feminine females (faces) also became sexually active earlier than their peers. Average males (faces and bodies) had more short-term sexual partners and more extra-pair copulations (EPC) than their peers. Symmetric women (faces) became sexually active earlier than their peers. Given that male reproductive success depends more on short-term mating opportunities than does female reproductive success, these findings suggest that individuals of high phenotypic quality have higher mating success than their lower quality counterparts.

"Doing battle with forgotten ghosts": Carnival, Discourse, and Degradation in Tennyson's The Princess

ALFRED LORD TENNYSON'S THE PRINCESS IS RIFE WITH AMBIGUITIES AND contradictions that prevent a straightforward interpretation of text. A Victorian frame surrounds medieval tale of Prince and Princess, one ultimately transformed from a fierce feminist into a broken nurse; men rather than women tell a story centering on women's issues; and narrative displays deeply puzzling oddities of tone, genre, and structure: these are just a few of poem's complicating elements. While it is not surprising, therefore, that little critical consensus exists as to whether finally presents a conservative or a progressive vision of gender relations in The Princess, what is less debatable is that contending male and female in text have decidedly implications. (1) The poem initially promotes expectations of a full exploration of the woman question that was then beginning to preoccupy Victorian society, but, as scholars of recent decades have noted, feminist discourse is silenced and patriarchal values upheld in end. (2) Terry Eagleton, in a provocative Marxist and Lacanian reading of poem, interprets transformation of lovers as an attempted resolution of both Prince's and mid-nineteenth century state's Oedipal complexes, former struggling with a barbaric, nakedly militaristic, blatantly sexist father and latter with internal and external changes in class, economic, and political relations. (3) Eagleton suggests that sexuality and politics are conflated in The Princess and that to address one is to address them both. Ultimately, Prince and Princess are reintegrated into symbolic order through ideological equation. . . feminine male x masculine female = masculine male + feminine female, couple thereby embracing conven tional (if somewhat humanized) gender roles and propagating restabilized bourgeois state as well (p. 79). However, despite poem's apparent surface liberality, Eagleton maintains that univocal masculine discourse retains complete control throughout: [The Princess] displays no dialectic of discourses whatsoever.... There is no sense in which one discourse inheres within, contradicts, interrogates or 'de-centres' another (pp. 86, 82). At no point, then, does a genuine interplay of voices occur that could produce true change. In what is perhaps most comprehensive study to date of poem's treatment of voice and gender, Donald Hall reaches a similar conclusion in Fixing Patriarchy, an examination of Victorian literary and cultural context that traces how feminist discourse incrementally changed a deeply resistant male hegemony over course of nineteenth century. Hall observes that women's increasingly audible demands for improved legal, political, educational, and professional status in 1840s challenged established gender roles assigning men public and women private spheres. Feminist discourse and gender experimentation were perceived as threats to patriarchal status quo, which in turn attempted to discursively fix such trouble by re-establishing a clearly delineated heterosexual binary: The perimeters and properties of Victorian masculinities were imperfectly secured through ongoing processes of differentiation, denigration, and appropriation, were constantly adjusted through negotiation with demands voiced by those to whom silence had been formerly ascribed, and were finally as fretted and fractured as class and gender ideologies of era, ones that only appear seamless to us when we mistake bombast for self-assurance. (Hall, pp. 3-4) Such bombast through appropriation of female Other is evident in The Princess, a representative cultural product of its times: Tennyson was neither unique, nor particularly blameworthy--he was simply caught in binaries of his day, as well as those of a particular model and dynamic of dialogue, in which two or more cannot be heard at once: following rules of competitive engagement, one must rise above cacophony, silencing others (Hall, p. …

Gender differences in the responsiveness of the sex-dependent isoforms of hepatic P450 to the feminine plasma growth hormone profile.

Most of the constitutive hepatic P450 isoforms expressed in the rat exhibit dramatic gender differences. Whereas only male hepatocytes contain CYP2A2, 2C11, and 3A2, only female hepatocytes express CYP2C12 and 3- to 4-fold greater levels of CYP2C7. This sexually dimorphic expression of hepatic P450 isoforms is regulated by the gender-dependent secretory GH profiles, i.e. episodic in males and continuous in females. In the case of the feminine GH profile, the continuous presence of the hormone in the circulation completely suppresses male-specific CYP2A2, 2C11, and 3A2, while stimulating full expression of female-dependent CYP2A1, 2C7, 2C12, and non-P450 testosterone 5alpha-reductase (type 1). The gender-dependent expression of the P450s can be reversed by exposing male rats to the continuous feminine plasma GH profile and females to the episodic masculine GH profile. Under these conditions, females will now express the male-specific isoforms and suppress the female-dependent forms, whereas the opposite will occur in the males. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether the levels of expression or suppression are comparable in male and female rats exposed to the same sex-dependent GH profiles. In the present study, we have renaturalized the circulating feminine GH profile in euthyroid-maintained, hypophysectomized female and male rats at six concentrations ranging from 3-100% of normal. Continuous monitoring of GH levels revealed indistinguishable plasma profiles in females and males at each dosage administered. In the case of females, restoration of the feminine-like plasma GH profile at a concentration that was 3% of the normal level restored expression levels (i.e. mRNA, protein, and/or catalytic activity) of female-dependent CYP2C12, 2A1, and 5alpha-reductase to 50% or greater of normal and fully suppressed expression of male-specific CYP2A2, 2C11, and 3A2. Twice the dosage of the hormone (6% of normal) was required to restore female-predominant CYP2C7 to 50% of normal in hypophysectomized female rats. In contrast, we found that all of the measured isoforms were significantly less responsive to the inductive and suppressive effects of the feminine-like GH profile when administered to male rats. While suppression of the male-specific isoforms (i.e. CYP2A2, 2C11, and 3A2) in male rats required concentrations of GH in the feminine profile 2-3 times greater than were effective in female rats, no dosage of the hormone was as effective in inducing female-dependent P450s (i.e. CYP2A1, 2C7, and 2C12) in males as in females. Clearly, the continuous feminine GH profile was more effective at inducing and suppressing gender-dependent isoforms of hepatic P450 when restored to female rats, where it is normally secreted, than in males. As GH profiles appear to be the sole factor responsible for regulating the sexually dimorphic expression of hepatic P450 isoforms in adult rats, the differential responsiveness of male and female rats to the feminine GH profile are likely to be inherently induced by irreversible imprinting during a critical developmental period.

Nightmares, dreams, and schizotypy.

The theory that psychosis and dreaming share some common underlying mechanism finds support in the observation that chronic nightmare sufferers are at increased risk for psychopathology. We examined this connection in a large general population sample, administering a battery of psychosis proneness and other personality scales, together with a nightmare distress scale; participants also answered a single question on pleasurable mood associated with dreaming. In addition, they completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory, to reinvestigate previously observed gender differences in nightmare susceptibility. It was found that, among the psychosis proneness scales, the best predictor of nightmare distress was STA, a mostly cognitive measure of schizotypy; this was true even after allowing for a strong influence in the data of general neuroticism. Other aspects of psychosis proneness--e.g. anhedonia--were unrelated to nightmares. However, sex and sex role differences did make a significant contribution, self-confessed feminine females and masculine males reporting, respectively, the highest and lowest nightmare distress. For schizotypy it was further shown that relationships were not confined to the nightmare experience; high (STA) schizotypes also significantly more often reported enjoyable dreaming. It was concluded that a unifying theme explaining the data is the schizotype's greater imaginativeness, which can have both positive and negative expression in sleep and consciousness.

Tipicidad de identidad de género y comparación intergrupal

This research focused on groups extreme in gender typicity, and its main aim was to explore the interrnediate and subordinate levels upon which self-concept is built, according to Self-Categorization Theory. Two groups were created: 1) the first consisted of those subjects whose gender identity followed the typical cultural pattern (i.e., feminine females and masculine males); 2) the second comprised the atypical ones (i.e., masculine females and feminine males). Our general hypothesis predicted differences between these two groups in the representation of the male-female dichotomy, but not in the degree of identification with the ingroup or ingroup evaluation. A 2 x 2 factorial design (typicallatypical and sex) was used. The dependent variables considered were as follows: gender stereotyping, ingroup and outgroup homogeneity, ingroup and outgroup evaluation and similarity between ingroup and outgroup. The results confirmed the general hypothesis. Differences between groups appeard only in the gender stereotyping and ingroup and outgroup homogeneity. VVe also found rektionships among these three variables.

Gender, gender role, and body image

The relationship between gender role and body image was examined in this research. Females and males who differed in their gender roles (i.e., masculine, feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated) completed the Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (B. A. Winstead & T. F. Cash, “Reliability and Validity of the Body-Self Questionnaire: A New Measure of Body Image,” paper presented at the meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1984) and a measure of self-esteem. Results indicated that feminine females evaluated their physical appearance less favorably than androgynous females, although physical appearance was equally important to both groups. The importance of the masculine component of gender role was reflected in the favorable body-image ratings of androgynous and masculine females in all domains (i.e., physical appearance, physical fitness, and physical health), and in the unfavorable ratings of feminine males in the physical fitness domain. Regression analyses to predict body-image ratings indicated that while self-esteem was an important predictor, it did not account for the relationships between gender, gender role, and body image. Implications of the findings for future research on the relationships between gender role, body image, and indices of mental health are discussed.

Gender Role and Sport Competition Anxiety: A Re-examination

Abstract The present study tested whether there were significant sport competition anxiety differences among sex-typed, androgynous, and cross sex-typed subjects and whether these differences were consistent with gender schema theory (Bem, 1981b). Approximately 700 subjects were administered the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and, using two methods of scoring, 216 subjects were selected because of being either sex-typed (masculine males, feminine females), cross sex-typed (masculine females, feminine males) or androgynous (males and females who have strong masculine and feminine dimensions). Each subject was tested for competition anxiety using the Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT). A one-way ANOVA of SCAT scores by group was significant, F(5,210) = 6.52, p < .001. Post-hoc analysis revealed that feminine females had significantly more competitive trait anxiety than all other groups and androgynous females were more anxious than masculine males (p < .05). The results are discussed in terms of gender sc...

Sex-role orientation and psychological adjustment: Implications for the masculinity model

The present study tested the theory that masculine persons are as favorably adjusted psychologically as androgynous persons. Grouped on the basis of Bem Sex Role Inventory scores, androgynous, masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated college males and females were compared on MMPI, self-efficacy, and assertiveness measures. Strong support was obtained for superior adjustment of masculine males and females. A factor analysis was performed to elucidate the nature of the Masculinity scale, and it suggested that masculinity is related to assertiveness and self-efficacy rather than to the absence of maladjustment.