Feminine Identity Research Articles

CONFLICT-GENERATING POTENTIAL OF GENDER NEOLOGISMS OF ENGLISH-LANGUAGE DISCOURSE

The current stage of development of society is characterised by high dynamism due to cultural transformation and the complication of social relations. At the top of the value space is the desire to equalise gender roles and the promotion of polygender affiliation. The vocabulary of a language undoubtedly responds to the rapid development of society. Continuous social contradictions have increased the level of tension in society. Due to a complete change in the culture of gender interactions and the construction of a new picture of the existence of men and women, the severity of gender contradictions began to be seen with particular clarity. This work is aimed at examining “risky” neologisms, analysing their conflict potential with the identification of evaluative semes and studying the features of gender stereotyping. Studying the conflict-generating potential of gender neologisms allows us to trace the sociocultural rhythm of transformations and study the essential features of the interaction between men and women in a specific historical and cultural space. Our research analysis allows us to conclude that gender neological nominations arise as a result of social demand, which acts as the main driving force of neologisation in language. The constant broadcast of gender-based sociocultural images, the visualisation of masculine and feminine identities in linguistic consciousness, and the ascription of stereotypical social roles act as a conflict-generating factor that can activate a mostly negative emotional reaction.

In the Grip of Traditionalism? How Nigerian Middle-Class Working Mothers Navigate Normative Ideals of Femininity

Changing socioeconomic conditions are enticing more and more Nigerian mothers to work and pursue careers. This article explores how middle-class professional women navigate working mother subjectivities in the context of Nigeria’s strong patriarchal culture, where traditional notions of maternal femininity prevail. We argue that the working mother’s subjectivity is a key site where the struggle over gendered cultural meanings takes place. Drawing on 32 qualitative interviews, we demonstrate how a small group of women refused traditional feminine subject positions; however, most mothers either embraced or reluctantly acquiesced to traditional femininity, despite having access to broader cultural repertoires and material resources. By unveiling the complexities of the cultural appeal of traditional femininity and social penalties for breaching it, the article extends our understanding of how patriarchal cultures resist gendered change and the nuances and limits of individual patterns of resistance.

#BimboTok: a critical discourse analysis of hyper-feminine bimbo identities on TikTok

This study adopts a multimodal approach to critical discourse analysis to unpack the discourses embedded in the performance of hyper-feminine bimbo identities on TikTok. Guided by a social semiotic approach to language, this study analyses a corpus of 16 short-form videos published by self-proclaimed ‘bimbos’ on TikTok, focusing on the lexical and iconographical choices of these texts and how they function contextually to signal broader discourses. This analysis reveals that TikTok influencers frequently reinforce hegemonic norms of gender by incorporating bodily signifiers of patriarchal Eurocentric ideals of femininity and linking signifiers of overconsumption and hyper-femininity in their performance of a bimbo identity. Simultaneously, they contest these hegemonic norms by juxtaposing hyper-feminine images with critiques of patriarchal, Eurocentric, and capitalist structures of inequality. Ultimately, the subversive potential of these representations is ambivalent; there is a marked tension between their stated aims of inclusion and empowerment and the intersection of hyper-femininity with privilege.

Sumptuary Laws, Gender, and Public Dressing in Early Modern Genoa

Abstract This article explores sumptuary legislation and its enforcement in early modern Genoa. Whereas the sumptuary laws from other early modern Italian city-states partitioned society by social rank, profession, or citizenship, the laws in effect in late sixteenth-century Genoa divided the population only into men and women. Genoa therefore represents a key site for exploring gender difference through dress and adornment. Adopting a gendered, sociological, and material culture framework, this article demonstrates how sumptuary laws informed understandings of gender and gendered practices of dressing. It takes as its point of departure a ledger of sumptuary denouncements for the year 1594, and examines how Genoa’s citizens adhered to, or transgressed the gendered expectations set out by the city’s legislative structures. It argues that while prescriptions for idealized masculine and feminine comportment coloured the content and wording of the law, in daily life a spectrum of gendered identities could be enacted through clothing. This article thus advances discourse on the impact of sumptuary laws on understandings of gender in early modern Italy, and the ways in which masculine and feminine identifications were negotiated through and in dialogue with clothing.

Afterbirth and rebirth in 4 Maccabees’ portrait of (wo)manly courage

In 4 Maccabees’ skillfully woven tale of seven brother martyrs and their mother, a rather puzzling phrase appears in the emotionally-charged scene of the mother looking upon the mutilated corpses of her seven sons. The graphic description—burned flesh, severed hands, scalped heads, corpses upon corpses—includes, in most editions of the text, a side reference to the place filled with many spectators because of the children’s torments (4 Macc 15:20; NRSVue). These editions and translations reflect an ancient scribal emendation to the Greek text of Codex Sinaiticus that reads χόριον (afterbirth) as χορίδιον/χωρίδιον/χωρίον (place). What is surprising about this emendation is that it disrupts the focus of the encomium—the mother’s exemplary courage despite seeing the extreme mutilation of her children—whereas the earlier reading, afterbirth, is an apt description of the corpses within the context of the scene and complements the portrayal of the mother’s role throughout the book. This article considers how the erasure of afterbirth in 4 Macc 15:20 obscures the significance of the birthing metaphor in 4 Maccabees’ portrayal of the mother’s role, particularly as it relates to the image of her rebirthing (ἀνατίκτω) her sons into immortality (4 Macc 16:13). Far from a scribal error in need of emendation, afterbirth in 4 Macc 15:20 is a key feature of the birth imagery, which functions in concert with the masculinization of the mother to paint a portrait of her as the embodiment of both masculine and feminine ideals, the ultimate example of Torah piety, and a generative force of immortality.

Selling soldiering: Marketisation, gender complementarity and the promise of military femininity in 1990s Sweden

AbstractThis article examines the first large‐scale attempts to recruit women as soldiers and officers in 1990s Sweden, focusing on the techniques and promises employed by the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF). Building on a wide range of documents and audiovisual sources, we demonstrate how the SAF utilised various marketing techniques, including advertisements and sponsorships, to attract and ‘sell’ soldiering to young women. Analysing these efforts through scholarship on neoliberal governmentality and gendered military identity, we argue that these strategies marked the onset of military marketisation, reflecting broader neoliberal trends in 1990s Sweden. Moreover, we show how the SAF's marketing techniques promised women a narrowly defined, complementary, feminine military identity that reinforced existing gender stereotypes in the name of gender equality. Our findings shed new light on the instability of gender equality policies deemed progressive and pioneering and, in contrast, the stability of the global racialised hierarchies that inscribe some nations as gender equality forerunners.

Female Malady: A Psychoanalytic Exploration of Woman’s Madness in Shirley Jackson’s “The Daemon Lover” and “The Tooth

يقدم هذا البحث دراسةَ نفسيةَ لجنون المرأة في قصص مختارة لشيرلي جاكسون. من خلال المنظور التحليلي لمفهوم إلين شوولتر حول "المرض النسوي"، تتعمق هذه الدراسة في الطبقات المتداخلة للعقد النفسية التي تعيشها بطلتي قصتي "الحبيب الشيطان"، التي تعرض هوس البطلة الجنوني بحبيبها، و"الضرس"، التي تدرس القلق، والهوية الأنثوية والضغوط الاجتماعية. تهدف هذه الدراسة النوعية إلى الإجابة على ما إذا كان جنون الإناث صفة موروثة في عقل النساء أم إنها اكتسبت بسبب الضغوطات الاجتماعية المفروضة عليهن. يُطبق البحث النظرية النفسية لتوضيح كيف يمكن أن تثير الأحداث التافهة ظاهريًا اضطرابًا نفسيًا عميقًا. ويكشف هذا التحليل عن الطرق التي يتقاطع بها النظام الذكوري، والقوانين الاجتماعية المفروضة على النساء لتشكيل هذه السردية لجنون المرأة. يتم تحليل تجارب الشخصيات من خلال منظور الرغبات المكبوتة وتوقعات المجتمع واضطرابات الشخصية ضمن سياقات محددة.

Redefining ‘family’: Conceptualising social support networks of transfeminine women in the Western Cape, South Africa - A case descriptive study of in-depth qualitative data from the HPTN 071 (PopART) trial

Transfeminine women (assigned male sex at birth and identifying with a feminine gender identity) are at risk for intersectional stigma related to their gender, sexual orientation, and other parts of their social identities (including age, class, and race). These layered stigmas can result in increased physical and mental health concerns related to physical and emotional violence, substance use, high risk sexual behaviour and HIV exposure. Social networks are important support structures for transfeminine women to ameliorate imposed risk and stigma. We investigated the family networks, household structures and community support systems of eight transfeminine women in the Western Cape, South Africa. The data for this study are embedded in a qualitative component of the larger HPTN 071 (PopART) trial. Data included in-depth interview transcripts, genogram activities and community map drawings. We found that participants who were not living in a supportive family and household structure faced stigma and health risks. In addition, we found examples of how transfeminine women in unsupportive social situations constructed their own family and household unit for support. Our findings agree with those of other studies in that transgender people often rely on extended family members, friends, or peers as social support when their families do not support or ostracise them. Understanding how transfeminine women re-organise social units to be better supported is important so that better health services can be provided to them in the local South African and international context. Further research on family re-structuring among gender and sexual minority groups is needed.

Being Attractive on a Dating App: Generational and Gender Differences in Tinder Bios and Profile Pictures

On dating apps, the image that users project of themselves, especially in terms of physical attributes, is important. This study explored how individuals of different generations and genders present their desirability through photos and self-descriptions—‘bios’—on their Tinder profiles. Through a virtual ethnographic study, 400 profiles of users aged 18–70 years were analysed and grouped into generation- and gender-based categories. The photographs were thematically analysed using observation matrices and descriptions. The results showed that, although all groups try to present themselves positively, generation- and gender-based differences exist in how individuals present their physicality through photographs (postures, angles, type of photo, place, facial expressions, body stereotypes, sexualisation) and bios. With respect to generations, these differences are attributable to the values and preferences of each group. Regarding gender differences, the influence of sociocultural stereotypes and ideals of femininity and masculinity is observed.

Exploratory Factor Model of Perceived Violence in the COVID-19 Era

Aims: This study aims to interpret the knowledge networks of students regarding dating violence, marital therapy and expectation of the relationship. Background: From the review of the theories of the cycle of violence, gender violence and the social construction of masculine and feminine identities, carried out a non - experimental, exploratory and descriptive study with a nonrandom selection of students a public university to establish a balance and a prospective expectation of violence. Methodology: They conducted interviews in the department of psychology at the public university. Participants are guaranteed the confidentiality of information and were informed that the study results do not directly or indirectly affect their academic status as only sought to investigate some related to the experience of living with parents’ speeches separately or together. Results: The results show that synaptic weights are explained by incoming, and outgoing latent layers on the pre-contemplation of violence, contemplation of aggressive relationships and personal change. Lines alluding to the kind of relationship research, negotiation and consensus decision making to warn couple conflicts.

‘You are gold’: the role of workwear jewelry advertisements in ‘Disempowering’ urban working women in India

ABSTRACT From 2011 onward, jewelry advertisements in India have witnessed a surge in multimedia campaigns of branded work wear gold and diamond jewelry. These commercials target the urban Indian working woman with an affinity for fine, workwear jewelry marketed as versatile, cool and chic. This study takes up discourse analysis of 23 select commercials released on television channels and over the top (OTT) platforms between 2017 and 2022 to unravel the many contesting and contradictory displays of women’s apparently empowered personas. In doing so, it also seeks to unravel the rather complicated connections between the jewelry business and the gendered cultural habitus of working women in contemporary urban India. Most women depicted in the advertisements possess high economic and cultural capital and are seen as ‘doing urbanity’ in choosing workwear jewelry. Ironically though these possessors of refined habitus are perfectly adjusted in performing traditional gendered roles and relegating their own self-hoods, a much saleable business trope for advertisers. Such portrayals of urban Indian working women subtly and paradoxically dovetail in valorizing ideals of traditional femininity. This paper further argues that jewelry advertisements become sites where the projection of the ‘urban Indian working woman’ becomes a conduit for legitimizing a more mutated and reflexive patriarchy.

The effect of the “Femininity Identity Improvement Program” based on cognitive behavioral and expressive techniques applied to gynecological cancer patients on prolonged grief reactions: Study protocol for randomized controlled trial

The research was designed to determine the impact of the Femininity Identity Improvement Program based on cognitive-behavioral and expressive techniques applied to gynecological cancer patients on their prolonged grief responses. The research is the study protocol created for a randomized controlled experimental study. The research protocol prepared in accordance with SPIRIT 2013 was registered in the Clinical Trials system (XXXX). The research was conducted with 80 patients (40 patients in the intervention group and 40 patients in the control group) who underwent surgery in the gynecology and obstetrics clinic of a university hospital within the last year. Among these patients, those who had a surgery at least three months ago were included in the study. The intervention group participated in the Femininity Identity Improvement Program for 10 weeks, with sessions once a week, each lasting 90-120 minutes. The control group received no intervention. Measurements were taken before the program (pretest), at the end of the program (posttest at the 10th week), and three months after the program (follow-up measurement) to determine the effect of the program. Data were collected using the Prolonged Grief Disorder Scale-Patient Form. The Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to analyze the data obtained at different times. The study integrates two psychotherapeutic interventions (cognitive-behavioral theory and art therapy) in an innovative way to structure the Femininity Identity Improvement Program for psychiatric nursing practice. Psychiatric nurses in oncology and other relevant clinical settings are recommended to apply this program to provide comprehensive care using current approaches.

“Women shouldn’t play rugby” – the gendered and embodied experiences of women players in rugby union

ABSTRACT Drawing on interview data, we use gender and embodiment literature to understand the experiences, attitudes, and behaviours of women rugby players in relation to tackle performance and safety. Sampling, data collection, and data analysis were guided by principles and techniques of the grounded theory method. Participants’ experiences illustrate the processes through which women struggle to claim space in rugby. Constraining gender norms, the inferiorisation of women’s athletic achievements, and inequitable playing conditions are at the centre of this struggle. Organisational support and cultural acceptance are predicated on conformity to masculinist models of performance and behaviour whilst preserving the ideals of femininity. However, women’s embodied persistence and agency can challenge the gendered status quo in rugby and reshape the field of play. Revising rugby structures to include more nuanced models for performance development, including commensurate support for the women’s game both in financial sense and in terms of identity could enhance safety and performance in women’s rugby.

HIV and gender identity expression among transfeminine people in the Western Cape, South Africa – a thematic analysis of data from the HPTN 071 (PopART) trial

IntroductionTransfeminine people in South Africa have a high HIV risk due to structural, behavioural, and psychosocial factors. Transfeminine people and feminine identifying men who have sex with men (MSM) are often conflated or grouped with transgender or MSM categories in HIV service programming, although they don’t necessarily identify as either. We aimed to investigate gender expression among feminine identifying people who were assigned male at birth. We examined how local conceptualizations of sexuality and gender intersect with the key population label of ‘transgender’ imported into local HIV programming.MethodsA qualitative cohort nested within the HPTN 071 (PopART) trial included longitudinal, in-depth interviews with eight transfeminine people (four who disclosed as living with HIV). Data were collected approximately every six weeks between January 2016 and October 2017. We used a combination of thematic analysis and case study descriptions to explore gender identification among participants.ResultsOf the eight participants, only one accepted ‘transgender’ as a label, and even she used varying terms at different times to describe her identity. For participants, a feminine identity included dressing in normatively feminine clothes; using feminine terms, pronouns and names; and adopting stereotypically feminine mannerisms. Participants would switch between typically feminine and masculine norms in response to contextual cues and audience. For example, some participants accepted identification as masculine gay men amongst their family members. Among peers, they expressed their identity through typically more effeminate gender characteristics, for example self-identifying as “femgay”. With partners they often also took on a feminine identity role, for example identifying as women in sexual and romantic relationships (meaning they viewed and expressed themselves as the feminine partner in the relationship).ConclusionsOur findings are amongst the first exploratory and descriptive data of transfeminine people in South Africa. We show how transfeminine people navigate fluid gender identities that could pose a challenge for accessing and utilizing HIV services that are currently set up for transgender individuals or MSM. More work needs to be done to understand and respond to the diverse and shifting ways people experience their gender identities in this high HIV burden context.

A cookbook of country women: preservation of feminine identity, patriarchal customs and collective memories.

El siguiente texto expone la importancia de los recetarios de una comunidad en los cuales se preserva la identidad de la localidad y el papel de la mujer mexicana en ésta durante la década de los setenta. La concepción del recetario no sólo como depositario de una tradición culinaria sino como reflejo de los costumbrismos patriarcales pasados y presentes como: recluir a la mujer a la cocina y seguir utilizando el apellido del hombre en el nombre de la mujer casada. También se reflejan las variaciones del español y la presencia del maya en el habla cotidiana del español peninsular. Por último, se aborda la importancia de la edición y divulgación de este tipo de textos hechos en comunidad, manera autónoma y personal para la preservación de las memorias que en él se comparten.

LIBERDADE FEMININA NA LITERATURA ERÓTICA: uma análise da obra Deus do Oceano de Josy Stoque e Mila Wander

Through literature, women recognized the possibility of building a new feminine identity, in which they are represented freely in all senses, including the sexual dimension in which they can satisfy themselves without the obligation to simply generate pleasure. (SOARES, 2019). In view of this, this research aims, firstly, to survey the history of eroticism in literature and then to analyze the issue of female sexual freedom in contemporary erotic literature and, finally, based on the chosen work, to identify how the erotic is represented and what is the character's relationship with his sexuality, so that it is possible to obtain a better understanding of the data selected through bibliographical research based on scientific articles and works that address themes related to the concepts presented by the works of (Gomes and Carvalho, 2017), (Lopes and Borges, 2015), (Costa and Marino, 2013), (Soares, 2019), (Rossini, 2016) among other relevant works in the area of female representation and eroticism considering the work God of the Ocean.

De kallar oss för partners: Betydelsen av maskulinitet för konstruktionen av gig-arbetare som nyliberala subjekt

In today’s neoliberal era, the gig economy is rapidly expanding. Gig jobs span various sectors of the labor market and have been both lauded as an opportunity to enter the workforce and criticized for their insecure and precarious nature. While previous research has emphasized the importance of gender in understanding contempo-rary neoliberal development, such as how ideals of femininity are used to interpellate female subjects as malleable workers in developing countries, less attention has been paid to masculinity. This article offers an empirically based analysis of how masculinity is employed to construct subjects within a specific context of gig work situated in the urban space, and the resulting implications for the gig workers’ understanding of themselves and their situation. Drawing on interviews with six gig-working food delivery drivers – all young men – the study sheds light on the precarious positions these workers inhabit while being framed as neoliberal masculine subjects through ideological associations to entrepreneurship. The overarching argument of the article is that the neoliberal structure of the gig-platforms propels exploitative relations in the labor market, masked behind gender associations.

The Mother Complex in Dambudzo Marechera’s Life and Works

Abstract Dambudzo Marechera, an iconic figure in Zimbabwean literature, is often celebrated for his avant-garde and confrontational literary style. His works, which reflect a tumultuous life marked by personal and political strife, also reveal a complex relationship with women. His upbringing in the slums of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) exposed him to poverty, violence, and racial tensions. Marechera’s mother, Masvotwa Venezia Marechera, was a maid, and he often depicted her in the context of Rhodesian violence and prostitution. His strained relationship with his family, especially his mother, is apparent in his works and biographical information on him. His relationship with his mother seems to have contributed to his ambivalent portrayal and understanding of women. This fraught connection with his mother hints at a mother complex, a psychological concept which describes a son’s emotional attachment and conflict with his mother. This study delves into the ‘Mother Complex’ as a recurring motif in Marechera’s narratives, examining how it shapes his life, characters, and themes. Drawing from Marechera’s own experiences and his relationship as reflected in his writings and Wild-Veit’s memoir, They Called You Dambudzo, this analysis explores the psychological and symbolic dimensions of the mother archetype as reflected in his literature and life. The discussion highlights how Marechera’s portrayal of motherhood—ranging from nurturing to oppressive—mirrors his ambivalent attitude towards maternal authority and the traditional roles assigned to women in society. Marechera conceives female characters as more than mere muses; they represent different facets of femininity and cultural identity. They evoke vulnerability and agency. The discussion considers the broader socio-cultural context of post-colonial Zimbabwe, where the mother figure often embodies the nation’s collective history and trauma. Marechera’s complex representation of motherhood and women serves as a critique of oppressive structures and a quest for agency amidst cultural dislocation.

Feminist identity crisis in Africa

Feminist movement in Africa lacks capable guardians to steer the development of feminine identity or theory, and to operationalize the feminist agenda. The apparent lack of a national or continental feminist theory has not helped to elevate the status of the majority of women beyond the patriarchal controls, particularly in the rural and peri-urban communities, despite improved social modernization. Africa’s feminist crisis involves the lack of leadership, ideological vacuity, absence of structure or movement, and the non-application of cultural; political; class; religious and tribal identities in developing feminist theory. In search of capable feminist guardians, the tendency of feminist groups is to co-opt self-actualized African women into feminism with or without their consent, and without regard to the accidental coincidence of those personalities’ narratives with feminist epistemology. Feminism in Africa is in search of relevance within the public space. This paper interrogates these issues and uses the narrative of several self-actualized women in Africa, who have, apparently, been co-opted into feminism as a result, to discuss aspects of the crisis and the delimiting public policy and legislation against, perhaps, the development of feminine identity.

A Feminist Reading on the Exploration of Female Identity and Sexuality in Sri Lankan Cinema: A Case Study of Asoka Handagama’s Selected Works

Since the emergence of the feminist movement, the distortion of feminine identity and sexuality is profoundly discoursed in relation to literature and other genres of art. This research has endeavoured to articulate how female identity and sexuality is portrayed in Sri Lankan cinema with reference to selected work of veteran filmmaker, Asoka Handagama. The sample comprises of the award-winning movies, “Thani Thatuwen Piyambanna” (Flying with One Wing, 2002), “Aksharaya” (A Letter of Fire, 2005) and “Aege Aesa Aga” (Let Her Cry, 2016) which features three significant female characters and their plight in patriarchal society. The researcher has deployed Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze Theory which examines the voyeuristic and scopophilic representation of women in media along with the Lacanian and Freudian concepts of gaze as the theoretical approach of the study. The research was predominantly conducted utilizing the qualitative approach while textual analysis and interviews focusing on the director of the selected films, critics and academics were the major tools of primary data collection. The secondary data was collected through research publications, newspaper articles, the internet and magazines. The hermeneutic approach was deployed in interpreting the sample and the collected data focusing on the connection between the selected sample and the broader discourses. Even though Laura Mulvey exemplifies that women are always being projected as passive objects in cinema, the findings of the study reveal that the selected sample represents the female figure as a more assertive and emphatic entity regardless of the persistent patriarchal norms.