ABSTRACT

Consider the messages that Western, patriarchal cultures create and disseminate about femininity: that it is weak, passive, deceitful, and manipulative. Systems of male domination devalue femininity relative to hegemonic masculinity by framing feminine attributes as opposite and in service to men and masculinity, and naturalising these characteristics to female and feminine bodies. Much gender studies scholarship critiques the constraints of feminine socialisation in patriarchy. While such feminist critiques are important and necessary, they also unwittingly uphold the second-class status of femininity, reduce the complexity of all femininities, and erase the presence and power of multiple types of femininity. In this article, the authors situate their analysis in femme theory to show how, under specific conditions, feminine ways of being are powerful on their own terms. Drawing on data from exotic dancers and bedside nurses, the authors operationalise four types of feminine power: yielding, re-direction, vulnerability, and establishing connections, arguing that feminine strategies do not universally serve hegemonic masculinity, do yield success, and do increase joy.

摘要

想想西方父权文化创造和传播的关于女性气质的信息：它是软弱的、被动的、欺骗性的和操纵性的。相对于霸权的男性气质，男性统治系统贬低女性气质，将女性属性设定为对立的并为男性和男性气质服务，并将这些特征自然化为女性和女性身体。许多性别研究学术批评父权制中女性社会化的限制。这种女权批判在重要和必要的同时，也在不知不觉中维护了女性的二流地位，降低了所有女性的复杂性，抹杀了多种女性的存在和力量。在本文中，作者将他们的分析置于女性理论中，以展示如何在特定条件下，女性的存在方式就其自身而言是强大的。根据来自异国情调的舞者和床边护士的数据，作者将四种类型的女性力量付诸实践：屈服、重新定向、脆弱性和建立联系，认为女性策略并不能普遍服务于霸权男性气质，确实会产生成功并增加快乐.