Oscar winning American actor Sean Penn said something that generated a lot of discussion on feminism in an interview. He said: “There are a lot of, I think, cowardly genes that lead to people [men] surrendering their jeans and putting on a skirt.” What Penn said reflects an unfortunate truth in our society: the biggest insults a man can be given are nearly always something that questions their masculinity, something that makes them “feminine”.
曾获得奥斯卡奖的美国演员Sean Penn在一次采访中说了一句话，引发了很多关于女权主义的讨论。他说：“我认为，有很多懦弱的基因会导致人们（男性）放弃牛仔裤并穿上裙子。” Penn 所说的话反映了我们社会中一个不幸的事实：一个男人所能受到的最大侮辱几乎总是质疑他们的男子气概，让他们变得“女性化”的指控。
But femininity itself was never meant to be a negative thing, or even a quality with any sort of connotation besides “neutrality”. The definition of the word, according to Merriam Webster, is quite literally “the quality or nature of the female sex”. So why has society attached such a stigma to the word?
但女性气质本身从来就不是消极的东西，甚至从来不应该带有除了“中性”之外的任何品质。根据 Merriam Webster，这个词的定义只是单纯指“女性的品质或性质”。那么，为什么社会对这个词如此污名化呢？
The truth is, “femininity” is an insult is because being a female is still considered “lesser” when compared to being a man. “Femininity” is an insult because of what it implies: it implies that because a man is womanly, and as such, implies that the man is weak, is less accomplished, because the deep beliefs of misogyny have never truly left the public consciousness. Because we have yet to achieve gender equality, this word, which by definition means nothing more than being female, has become an insult to be thrown at people.
事实是，“女性气质”为什么会成为一种侮辱，是因为与男性相比，女性仍然被认为是“次要”的。 “女性气质”是一种侮辱，因为它所暗示的意义：它暗示，因为男人女性化，因此男人就软弱，没有成就。因为厌女症的深刻信念从未真正离开过公众意识。因为我们还没有实现性别平等，这个从定义上来说只是单纯指女性的词才会被当作对人们的侮辱。
With the progression of society into the twenty-first century, femininity has gradually become more accepted by all genders. Today, while still rare, it is much more common to see men do traditionally feminine things, such as wear makeup, and enjoy traditionally feminine activities, like sewing and cooking. But these men still face many obstacles in pursuing what they love. What does it say about our society that men who wear dresses, or other traditionally female clothing pieces, are seen as cowardly? What does it say about our society that men who wear makeup are often degraded, are bullied? What makes these definitions of “masculinity” more ludicrous is that they are more modern than many think: up until the early twentieth century, boys used to wear dresses until the age of five in Western Europe. The monarchs of Europe used wore heels to symbolize their royalty. The men in Scotland and Ireland continue to wear kilts, skirt-like clothing, to this day. What defines “femininity” is so narrow, so insufficient, that its usage as an insult is more nonsensical than it should be impactful.
随着社会进入二十一世纪，女性气质逐渐被所有性别所接受。今天，虽然仍然很少见，但也有男人做传统的女性化的事情，比如化妆，并享受传统的女性化活动，比如缝纫和烹饪。但这些男人在追求自己所爱的过程中仍然面临许多障碍。穿裙子或其他传统女性服装的男人被视为懦弱，这对我们的社会有何影响？化妆的男人经常被贬低，被欺负，这对我们的社会有什么看法？使这些“阳刚之气”的定义更加荒谬的是，它们比许多人想象的更现代：直到 20 世纪初，西欧男孩一直穿裙子直到 5 岁。欧洲的君主用高跟鞋来象征他们的皇室。直到今天，苏格兰和爱尔兰的男人仍然穿着苏格兰短裙，类似裙子的衣服。对“女性气质”的定义是如此狭隘，如此不足，以至于将其用作侮辱比它应该具有影响力更荒谬。
The day that femininity is no longer used as an insult is the day that society collectively takes a huge step towards true gender equality. After all, the truism that society as a whole has yet to realize is that, as American musician Iggy Pop once said: “I am not ashamed to ‘dress like a woman’, because I don’t think it’s shameful to be a woman.”
女性气质不再被当作侮辱的那一天，就是社会集体朝着真正的性别平等迈出一大步的那一天。毕竟，整个社会尚未意识到的一个真理是，正如美国音乐家 Iggy Pop 曾经说过的那样：“我并不羞于‘穿得像个女人’，因为我不认为做女人是可耻的"。
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