• Science • People
Non User
 • Locations • Timeline
Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Home > Classical definition of effeminacy

 
Effeminacy ( Greek: ανανδρια; μαλακια; Latin: mollites) is applied to men who have the quality of unmanliness, softness or a delicacy about them. In this classical meaning there is no connotation of sexual behavior or gender roles. It is a moral and ethical fault which is always applied to fully heterosexual men who are morally weak, lack in perseverance, or cowards but can also be denoted of races, cultures and societies as a whole. The English word comes from the Latin, "ex", meaning "out", and "femina", meaning woman. It also means "to be like a woman" metaphysically. From classical antiquity, this meaning of effeminacy passed into Christianity through the Bible and affected Western culture especially English and Victorian Culture.

The Greek word is "malakos" (or "soft") and is still used in modern Greek in that sense. "Malakoi" was a common Greek term meaning men who were effeminate; it is a term of shame.

Effeminacy was also known by the other Greek word androyinon ( androgyny). It is made up of two Greek words; "Andre", meaning man, and "Yinon", meaning woman. It literally means "manwoman".

1 Ancient and Hellenistic Greece

1.1 Literary sense

In common literary prose, the term malakos is an adjective applied to things.

1.2 Philosophical sense

To the Greeks, men could be made either manly or effeminate. Socrates in The Republic observed that "too much music effeminizes the male." (5) "… when a man abandons himself to music to play upon him and pour into his soul as it were through the funnel of his ears those sweet, soft (malakas), and dirge-like airs of which we were just now speaking..." (19). Music softens the high spirit of a man but too much 'melts and liquifies' that spirit making him into a feeble warrior. For Socrates, the guardians must be trained right "lest the habit for such thrills make them more sensitive and soft (malakoteroi) than we would have them." (20)

Aristotle writes that "Of the dispositions described above, the deliberate avoidance of pain is rather a kind of softness (malakos); the deliberate pursuit of pleasure is profligacy in the strict sense." (16); "One who is deficient in resistance to pains that most men withstand with success, is soft (malakos) or luxurious (for Luxury is a kind of Softness (malakia); such a man lets his cloak trail on the ground to escape the fatigue and trouble of lifting it, or feigns sickness, not seeing that to counterfeit misery is to be miserable." (17) and "People too fond of amusement are thought to be profligate, but realy they are soft (malakos); for amusement is rest, and therefore a slackening of effort, and addiction to amusement is a form of excessive slackness" (18)

A writer of the peripatetic school (c. 1st century BC or AD) elaborated a little more on Aristotle by labeling effiminacy as a vice. He writes that " Cowardice is accompanied by softness (malakia), unmanliness, faint-heartedness."(2) It was also a concomitant of uncontrol: "The concomitants of uncontrol are softness (malakia) and negligence." (3)

It had educational implications for the Greek Paideia. Pericles in his famous Funeral Oration said that the Athenians "cultivate...knowledge without effeminacy (aneu malakoi)". (4) This statement and idea of education without effeminacy was visible in the educational philosophies of Victorian England and 19th century America.

Effeminacy in Ancient Greece had political implications as well. The presence or absence of this character in man and his society determined if his society was free or slavish. The Greeks applied this term to the Asiatics because they always lived under tyranny. (1) To the Greeks, however, their own self-government was seen as a product of their manliness. (see The KyklosThe Kyklos is a term used by some classical Greek authors to describe what they saw as the political cycle of governments in a society. It was roughly based on the history of Greek city-states in the same period. The concept of "The Kyklos" is first elabo.)

HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum in Turkey) was an ancient Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC? c. 430 BC/ 420 BC?). Overview Herodotus wrote a history of the Persian invasion of Greece in the early fifth century B. known sim recounted an incident that happened in Asia Minor. This was an appeal from King Croesus, the king of Lydia, a Greek city and people on the West coast of modern Turkey, to the PersianPersia is the historical name for the state of Iran. The name was used in the West due to the ancient Greek name for Iran, Persis''. Persia is used to describe the nation of Iran, its people, or its ancient empire. The name Persia comes from a province in King. The Persian king wanted to kill all the males to keep them from revolting and what the defeated king proposed was to inculturate softness in order to make the people docile and servile; effeminacy was seen as the mark of a slave. These men are to be softened.
"But let the Lydians be pardoned; and lay on them this command, that they may not revolt or be dangerous to you; then, I say, and forbid them to possess weapons of war, and command them to wear tunics under their cloaks and buskins on their feet, and to teach their sons lyre-playing and song and dance and huckstering (the word "retail" in one translation). Then, O King, you will soon see them turned to women instead of men; and thus you need not fear lest they revolt." (6)

The Greek idea of mechanical trades as incurring effeminacy of their laborers was spoken by XenophonXenophon ( 431- c. 354 BC), whose name means "strange sound", was an Athenian citizen, an associate of Socrates, a Philodorian and is known for his writings on Hellenic history and culture. While a young man, Xenophon participated in the expedition led by:

"Men do indeed speak ill of those occupations which are called handicrafts, and they are rightly held of little repute in communities, because they weaken the bodies of those who make their living at them by compelling them to sit and pass their days indoors. Some indeed work all the time by a fire. But when the body becomes effeminate the mind too is debilitated. Besides, these mechanical occupations ( vanavsosbeta;αναυσο&sigmaf is transliterated into English as banausos . The beta;αναυσο&iota are the peasants and the laboring class. It includes artisans, such as potters, stone masons, ca) leave a man no leisure to attend to his friends' interests, or the public interest. This class therefore cannot be of much use to his friends or defend his country. Indeed, some states, especially the most warlike, do not allow a citizen to engage in these handicraft occupations." (8)

The Greeks tended to see things in totality, as opposed to compartmentalizing their thought. If the body was weak and soft, as the sentiment went, the mind is weak and soft, thereby lending to a man who was effeminate. Everything: food, sleeping habits, clothing, labors, work, education, and music affected the characterMoral character or character is an abstract evaluation of a person's moral and mental qualities. Such an evaluation is subjective — one person may evaluate someone's character on the basis of their virtue, another may consider their fortitude, courage, lo of a man. The excess or definciency in any of these either made the man effeminate or manly. (see Golden Mean).



Read more »

Topics: Classical Definition Of Effeminacy, Ancient And Hellenistic...

Classical music eraThe Classical period in Western music occurred in the second half of the 18th century. Although the term classical music is used as a blanket term meaning all kinds of music in a certain tradition, it can also occasionally mean this particular era withinClassical guitarA classical guitar also called a Spanish guitar is a musical instrument from the guitar family. The classical guitar is distinguished by a number of features. It is an acoustic instrument. The sound is amplified by a sound box. It has six strings. A few cClassical mechanicsClassical mechanics is a model of the physics of forces acting upon bodies. It is often referred to as Newtonian mechanics after Newton and his laws of motion. Classical mechanics is subdivided into statics (which models objects at rest), kinematics (whic
Classical musicThis article is about the broad genre of classical music in the Western musical tradition. For the period of music in the 18th century see Classical music era, for articles on classical music of non-Western cultures, see: List of classical music traditionClassical elementSeveral ancient classical element ideas exist. The Greek version of these ideas persisted throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, deeply influencing European thought and culture. Classical elements in Greece The Greek classical elements are fClassical liberalismClassical liberalism is a political and economic philosophy, originally founded on the Enlightenment tradition, that tries to circumscribe the limits of political power and to define and support individual rights. A comprehensive discussion of classical l
Classical ordersClassical educationClassical architecture
Classical authorities of Babylonia and AssyriaClassical LatinClassical Chinese
Classical physicsClassical conditioningClassical economics
Non User