Powder, Pomp, Power: Toward a Typology and Genealogy of Effeminacies

Abstract

An analysis of some of the varying historical and cross-cultural meanings of effeminacy and their relationship to hegemonic masculinity provides a unique perspective on the social construction of the sex/gender system currently operating in most industrialized societies of the West. In this paper I present a brief review of the historical uses of effeminacy in Europe and the US and develop a five point typology. My survey reveals a plethora of meanings, linking effeminacy alternately with deficient citizenship, a general lack of sexual restraint, excessive heterosexual behavior, exclusive connection with passive homosexual activity, and finally as an incorrigible proposition that utilizes a naturalistic narrative to link it with homosexual orientation regardless of sexual role. I then employ the typology introduced here to expand and augment an argument advanced by Randolph Trumbach to explain the emergence of the strong cultural link between effeminacy and homosexuality during the 18th century.