Thursday, 26 June 2008

Is this feminine?

From an article in today's Independent -
World is 'effeminate' thanks to men's fashion, says President's daughter
By Raushan Nurshayeva

The influential daughter of Kazakhstan's President said that the world has become "increasingly effeminate" because of men's new interest in fashion and beauty.
"Men are now paying more attention to themselves and fashion," Dariga Nazarbayeva, 45, told a women's congress. "They have started going to beauty parlours and hair salons a lot more often. They have started doing manicure.
"Looking at the appearance of contemporary young men, one may notice how much their notions of masculinity have changed, how this masculinity is sometimes being replaced by femininity."
But, she added to the 400 women and the 10 or so men at the conference: "One cannot help but notice that the world of men has become increasingly effeminate... I don't know if we can see this as our gender's victory."

Why should these pursuits be categorised as essentially 'feminine' ? I'd prefer to ask whether it's not simply that the world in general has become more obsessed with trivia and keeping up appearances. At several stages in history similar phenomena have existed.

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