Patriarchal vs. Non-Patriarchal Explorations of Feminine Traits
Patriarchal vs. Non-Patriarchal Explorations of Feminine Traits

Summary/Abstract: Ours is a time of shifting social interest from masculine to feminine attributes. However (culturally proclaimed) “feminine” traits were until recently approached in a patriarchal manner, their intrinsic nature failing thus to be properly acknowledged. Femininity had more often than not been negatively defined, by opposition to masculinity (independence vs. belonging) or by minimization of masculine qualities (force vs. weakness). Such definitions have been culturally imposed in a patriarchal manner and are still deployed in all fields of activity. More recently, positive traits of (alleged) “femininity” have been – rather – exploited, using patriarchal, scientific methods of investigation. Here I discuss all these perspectives on femininity and, taking them all into account, at the end of the paper I present a different type of discourse concerning feminine qualities: approaching them analogically rather than digitally.

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