Effeminate

Effeminate (pronounced ih-fem-uh-nit (adjective) & ih-fem-uh-neyt (verb))

(1) Of the human male, not manly, having traits, tastes, habits etc, traditionally considered feminine (softness or delicacy et al).  Historically it was usually used as a slur and use is now probably offensive except as a self-descriptor).

(2) Characterized by excessive softness, delicacy, self-indulgence etc (often as “effeminate luxury”) and now rare although “feminized product packaging designed to appeal to women remains common).

(3) By extension, of objects, concepts, literature etc, lacking firmness or vigor.

(4) To make or become effeminate.

1350-1400: From the Middle English, from the Latin effēminātus (womanish, effeminate), past participle of effēmināre (to make into a woman), from fēmina (woman), the construct being e(x)- (out-) + fēmin(a) + + -ātus.  In Italian, it became the feminine plural of effeminate.  The ex- prefix was from the Middle English, from words borrowed from the Middle French, from the Latin ex (out of, from), from the primitive Indo-European eǵ- & eǵs- (out).  It was cognate with the Ancient Greek ἐξ (ex) (out of, from), the Transalpine Gaulish ex- (out), the Old Irish ess- (out), the Old Church Slavonic изъ (izŭ) (out) & the Russian из (iz) (from, out of).  The “x” in “ex-“, sometimes is elided before certain constants, reduced to e- (eg ejaculate).  The Latin suffix -ātus was from the Proto-Italic -ātos, from the primitive Indo-European -ehtos.  It’s regarded as a "pseudo-participle" and perhaps related to –tus although though similar formations in other Indo-European languages indicate it was distinct from it already in early Indo-European times.  It was cognate with the Proto-Slavic –atъ and the Proto-Germanic -ōdaz (the English form being -ed (having).  The feminine form was –āta, the neuter –ātum and it was used to form adjectives from nouns indicating the possession of a thing or a quality.  Effeminate is a verb & adjective, effeminateness, effeminatization & effemination are nouns, effeminatize, effeminated & effeminating are verbs and effeminately is an adverb; the noun plural is effeminations.

Role model for aspiring effeminatizers: Lindsay Lohan on the Jimmy Fallon Show with guests including Vinny Guadagnino, Barrett Wilbert Weed, Ashley Park, Kate Rockwell, Bob the Drag Queen, Dusty Ray Bottoms, Monique Heart, Aquaria, Trinity ‘The Tuck’ Taylor and Monet X Change, January 2019.

Effeminate is probably now a word to be avoided because it’s difficult to use except as a slur and even if that’s achieved, such is modern sensitivity it will anyway be interpreted thus.  For a similar effect, the recommended alternative is the early seventeenth century effete (the alternative spelling effœte is obsolete), from the Latin effētus (exhausted (literally “that has given birth).  It used to convey the meaning “substances exhausted, spent or worn-out” but that is obsolete and it now means (1) weak, decadent, lacking strength or vitality; feeble, powerless and (2) someone or something (usually speech or writing) affected, over-civilized or refined to the point of absurdity.

Ladies 45 piece tool kit in pink with pink carry-case.

The verbs feminized & effeminized are sometimes confused and there was a time when them was some overlap of meaning but conventions of use have emerged.  In fields such demographics feminized is used to describe aggregate outcomes such as a preponderance of females in an occupational sector while in botany & zoology it’s a technical term which refers to instances of plant or animal life tending more to the feminine, the latter often suspected to have been induced by human-induced    environmental factors.  In thus refers to physiology though in medicine it’s used in fields like sex & gender-reassignment where it’s applied also in behavioral therapy.  By contrast, effeminized is used only of appearance and behavior.  It’s thus possible to feminize products yet not effeminize them.  Hardware stores every Saint Valentine's Day benefit from this adaptation by capitalism when sales spike of tool kits with tools finished in pink or purple.  There is nothing inherently effeminate about a pink hammer and the irony is that while pink to appeal to women, it appears the buyers are almost exclusively men.

Dodge in 1955-1956 had advertising for men (horsepower, speed and V8 engines, left) and for women (everything pink, the paint, the rosebuds on the upholstery, the handbag, compact, lipstick case, cigarette case, comb, cigarette lighter, change purse, rain coat, rain-cap and umbrella, right).

Pink tool kits continue reliably to appear in prominent spots as Valentine's Day approaches and at least some women probably enjoy the joke.  However, more blatant attempts at feminized products seem no longer in vogue, the implication of condescension just too blatant.  Chrysler offered the La Femme package in 1955 and 1956 on certain Dodge models, a creation that was not a stylistic whim but a response to sociological changes in an unexpectedly affluent post-war US society in which women were found to be exerting a greater influence on the allocation of their family’s rising disposable income and of most interest to Chrysler was that those increasingly suburban families were buying second cars, women getting their own.  Adventurous color schemes were nothing new to Detroit, the cars of the art deco era noted for their combinations though things had been more subdued in the years immediately after World War II (1939-1945) but that changed with the exuberance of 1950s experimentation.  However, sales of the La Femme proved disappointing and within a decade, the manufacturers would work out what women wanted was better designs, cars which were smaller, more manageable and with practical features, not the existing lines “feminized” with pink finishes and accessories.

Actually looking good: Men in lingerie in the PRC.

The economic and political systems of the modern People’s Republic of China (PRC) has many differences from those familiar in the West but, as the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) increasingly coming to realize, there are also many similarities, one of which is after when laws are passed and regulations promulgated, there are sometimes “unintended consequences”.  It was only in 2020 that the CCP’s Central Committee, having decided California’s most recent Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger (b 1947; governor of California 2003-2011) was right in identifying “girly men” as a bit of a problem and cracked down, declaring a war on androgyny, young men deemed too effeminate banned from some very popular television programmes.  Aiming to eradicate the androgynous, the state’s regulator of television content ruled broadcasters must "resolutely put an end to sissy men and other abnormal aesthetics", telling them to ban from the screens the niang pao (derisive slang for girly men which translates literally as "girlie guns”).

That worked well and, presumably encouraged, the CCP decided to eliminate another form of deviance, women modeling underwear on on-line shopping live-streams.  The ban was imposed overnight and streamers were warned that any site flouting the ban would be shutdown, the regulator warning transgressors might be charged with disseminating obscene material.  The streamers of course complied because defying the rules of the CCP is a bad career move but they complied only with the letter of the law, the streams converting instantly to use male models, an appropriately androgynous group presumably in ample supply after being banned from the TV shows.  A classic unintended consequence, in attempting to remove one form of behavior for some reason thought deviant (women wearing women’s underwear), the CCP have created a whole new mass-market genre (men in women’s underwear).  In the West, men in women’s underwear is just another niche segment on the web but for the CCP, truly it must be a ghastly thought that not only has this decadence reached the Middle Kingdom, but it’s all their fault.

April 2022: A new painted portrait (left) of a (then) slimmed-down Kim Jong-un which analysts suggest was based on an earlier photograph (right).

The keen watchers of the endlessly entertaining antics of the DPRK’s (North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) ruling family are a small industry; they don’t have a snappy title like “Kremlinologist” but in geopolitics it’s a genuine specialty.  Monitoring a dynasty that depends so much on symbolism and representational objects, one thing noted of late has been the increasing proliferation of new portraits of Kim Jong-un (Kim III, b 1982; Supreme Leader of DPRK since 2011).  The portraits began to appear in 2021, coinciding with celebrations of the Supreme Leader’s first decade of rule and their widespread deployment has been interpreted as one of the building blocks of his cult of personality.  In the decade after he assumed office, the only portraits usually seen were those of father and grandfather: Kim Il-sung (Kim I, 1912–1994; Great Leader of DPRK 1948-1994) & Kim Jong-il (Kim II, 1941-2011; Dear Leader of DPRK 1994-2011).

Everywhere one you look, the Great Leader and the Dear Leader are looking at you.  Given the number which exist and their size (there are also paired statutes, many paid for by the imposition of a "metals tax"), it would be a big job to add the Supreme Leader's portrait nationwide.  Still, the Kims have never been afraid of projects at a grand scale and ideologically, it may be unavoidable, the DPRK operating under a "three generations" (G3) hereditary system which (1) permits soldiers to wear the medals awarded to their fathers & grandfathers and (2) under the criminal justice system means "three generations of punishment" in which individuals found guilty of a crime are sent to the labor camps with their entire family, the subsequent two generations of the family born in the camp, remaining locked up for life.  This includes those convicted of “unspecified offences” all of whom, although never quite sure of the nature of their offence, are certainly guilty.  The Pyongyangologists are divided.  Some think it likely a third portrait may appear but that a variation of G3 will be established in that Kim Il-sung (already the DPRK's "Eternal President") will for G3 purposes be also the nation's "eternal grandfather", his portrait remaining forever while the other two will be the two most recent successors.  Thus there will never be more than three portraits.  Others think it's too early and it may be a third will be added only when (God forbid) the Supreme Leader dies.   

Interestingly, at one of the events conducted under a portrait of the Supreme Leader, a forty-minute long televised series of speeches marking the tenth anniversary of him becoming first secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), in addition to being praised for (1) leading the DPRK through the worst hardships, (2) completing the project of acquiring nuclear weapons and (3) ending the history of threats of nuclear war or invasion by imperialists, he was referred with a previously unknown title: Great Guardian.  Whether that’s of any significance isn’t clear but after the death of his father, Kim Jong-un was briefly known as the “Great Successor” so title changes in the third generation of the dynasty are not unknown.  Among the Pyongyangologists, there’s no consensus about whether the authorities are likely to add the portrait to all or any of the thousands of pairs featuring the Great Leader and the Dear Leader.  Such a move would clearly place the Supreme Leader on the same level as his late predecessors and currently, no painted portraits or statues of Kim Jong-un are known to be displayed in the country and artists are not permitted to paint his likeness.

Among those looking forward to a new series of portraits of the Supreme Leader are the meme-makers who found the contours of his soft, fleshy features made him ideally suited to effeminatization.  At top left is an official photograph issued by DPRK Foreign Ministry, the other five are digitally modified.