Soft masculinity blurs the lines between masculinity and femininity, integrating characteristics more often associated with femininity. These includes emotional sensitivity and expressivity, empathy, compassion, openness, intimacy, co-dependence, understanding, vulnerability and self-expression.
What is a Soft Boy? The term “Soft Boy” typically referrers to an adult, cisgender, male who challenges gender stereotypes through his physical appearance, attitude, interests. Their aesthetic is as you might expect, soft. They often wear pastel colors, nail polish, cardigans, and long, natural hair.
identified four different types of masculinity: hegemonic, subordinate, complacent and marginal.
Traditional masculinity is characterized by instrumental personality traits such as aggression, self-affirmation, social dominance, and lack of consideration for others [18,19,20,21], and these traits are internalized in childhood and adolescence.
Fragile masculinity refers to anxiety felt by men who believe they are falling short of cultural standards of manhood. • Fragile masculinity can motivate compensatory attitudes/behaviors meant to restore the threatened status of 'real' manhood.
What Is Healthy Masculinity? Healthy or positive masculinity is the idea that men can be emotionally expressive, have female friends or mentors, and express their emotions without feeling emasculated.
Toxic femininity refers to the adherence to the gender binary in order to receive conditional value in patriarchal societies. It is a concept that restricts women to being cooperative, passive, sexually submissive, gentle, and deriving their value from physical beauty while being pleasing to men.
Traits traditionally viewed as masculine in Western society include strength, courage, independence, leadership, and assertiveness.
The 3 P's of Manhood: A Review of Protection, Procreation, and Provision | The Art of Manliness.
While subjective in its description, femininity in men refers to someone who possesses traits that would be considered more feminine than masculine; this can range from having high emotional intelligence, taking proper care of oneself, or filling roles that aren't considered to be conventionally masculine.
The first dimension, ideal type masculinity, is the belief that there is a single type of masculinity that is appropriate. Different men or groups of men and women can posit a different ideal type, contesting the definition of that type, but the underlying belief in a single ideal type typifies this dimension.
The Crowther Centre in Australia (2021) suggests that positive masculinity should be defined as: “The expression of attitudes and behaviours (character strengths and virtues which any gender might have) that have been embodied and enacted by males for the common good, both individually and for the community”
OK so we all cry, but the softboy is very open about the fact that he cries. His ability to cry shows that his sensitivity is genuine and deep, he really feels the things he says he feels, and he's totally cool with being open about that because – duh! – he's sooo progressive.
The female version of a softboy is often referred to as a “moth girl”.
Hicks explains these as meaning Creational Male, Phallic Male, The Warrior, The Wounded Male, The Mature Man, and The Sage respectively. These are interpreted as life stages or seasons of a man's life, hence the title, Masculine Journey.
He's courteous to everyone, whether or not it directly benefits him. He takes up space without actually trying to take up space (all without man-spreading). He takes healthy pride in his appearance and putting his best foot forward. He's straightforward and self-assured in his speech.
Hyperfemininity is the exaggeration of stereotyped behavior that's believed to be feminine. Hyperfeminine folks exaggerate the qualities they believe to be feminine. This may include being passive, naive, sexually inexperienced, soft, flirtatious, graceful, nurturing, and accepting.
Dark feminine energy is the “shadow” side of the divine feminine, which includes subconscious thoughts, emotional impulses, and primal instincts. While some consider dark feminine traits to be undesirable or aggressive, they aren't inherently “bad” or “evil.”
Type 1: Careerist Femininity. Type 2: Individualised Femininity. Type 3: Vocational Femininity. Type 4: Family-oriented Femininity.