Femmephobia

Why are tomboys treated differently than sissies? Why are words like pansy, sissy, ladies, fairy, diva, or princess viewed as biting pejoratives, whether directed at women, men, or nonbinary folks? These terms would not be seen as an insult were femininity not seen as something subordinate—namely, subordinate to masculinity. There is an abundance of terms for different types of prejudice rooted in femininity, such as transmisogyny, transmisogynoir, femi-negativity, sissyphobia, anti-effeminacy, slut-shaming, effemania, and misogynoir. Each term is used to describe the targeting of specific social groups (e.g., trans women and trans women of color, gay men, Black women). Scholars have recently begun to examine how these different concepts commonly devalue and regulate femininity, which they term femmephobia. Thus, while sexism and misogyny refer to oppression ...