Definitions HQ

Femininity (n.) as ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠genuine is a nostalgic and parochial ideal that splinters feminism precisely in trying to unify it.

Femininity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not one thing to identify with but a whole array of places to identify from, as the many kinds of lesbian femme attest.

Femininity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not chosen but forcibly cited: a norm one must repeat to stay viable, bound up with discipline, regulation and punishment.

Femininity (n.) needs ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠an Other — the natural woman needs someone else to make her feel like one — "I feel like a woman" is true only once Aretha's defining Other is assumed.

Femininity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the dissimulation of a fundamental masculinity — authentic womanliness is such a mimicry.

Femininity (n.) donned ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠as a mask may be both the refusal of a woman's love for women and the hyperbolic incorporation of the woman refused — love preserved inside melancholy.

Femininity (n.) fully ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠developed in Freud resembles melancholy: a loss that radically escapes representation, resting on a desire for the penis that conveniently can no longer be felt.