I’m a big fan of people. I find them very interesting on so many levels. I’ve been noticing lately something that a friend of mine pointed out a few weeks ago that I had never noticed before. Throughout my life I’ve had the good pleasure to participate in entertaining people through many different venues. I like to sing, dance, & act. In doing these things I’ve worked with all kinds of different people over the years; lots & lots of them. I have enjoyed performing with almost every one of the men, women, & children that I’ve done different shows, plays, & songs with.
Lately though, I’ve particularly been noticing these traits in the men that I have performed with & those that I’m performing with now. We’ve all noticed, even if we haven’t said it, that the performing arts tend to attract a certain type of male participant.
Now, before we go any further, I’m not trying to make any type of statement or insinuate anything about sexuality in this post. I merely want to observe personality & behavior in this post.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s continue, shall we? The performing arts tend to draw men who are slender, & very expressive with their hands, arms, & faces. When being portrayed stereotypically, lisps are usually involved. In my experience, this is sometimes accurate, but not as much as one might think. When moving from place to place these men will oftentimes walk with head held high & chest out, placing one foot directly in front of the other & arms moving freely with the motion. One might call this “sashaying.” When talking with others these men tend to sensationalize things that are going on socially.
On the flip side of this, I definitely want to point out that, most of the time, these men only have one or two of these traits. I have only worked with a handful of men that brought all of these traits in full force.
These are traits that we usually refer to with the word “effeminate.” So basically, I’m saying that males that are drawn into the performing arts are “effeminate” men. In my experience, this is true most of the time. I have worked with several men who were not effeminate, but this is usually an exception.
I realize that many in our culture, when describing a man as effeminate, do so in a negative & mocking way. I want to make it clear that, in no way do I share those people’s negative intentions. Some of my favorite people, and some would say myself, could certainly be described as effeminate.
So now, back to what my friend pointed out & what I’ve been noticing is so true. These traits that earn a man the label of “effeminate,” meaning feminine or female in their nature, aren’t really feminine at all. I don’t know very many women at all that I could qualify as “effeminate” on these terms. Lately I’ve been watching the “effeminate” men that I work with & comparing their behaviors with various women on the cruise. They just don’t match up.
In conclusion, I’ve decided to question anybody who describes a man as effeminate as to whether they actually mean “like a female” or not because this has really gotten out of hand.
