Very masculine, not very feminine: social variations of gender

Mathieu Trachman (1)

1 INED - Institut national d'études démographiques

Differences in femininity and masculinity are an ordinary dimension of gender rarely considered in statistical surveys. How many women describe themselves as not very or very feminine, and how many men say they are not very or very masculine? Drawing on data from the VIRAGE survey, Mathieu Trachman explains that such positionings serve to distinguish individuals within sex groups and may represent a distancing from a desired norm or a refusal to assume an assigned role. The majority of women see themselves as quite feminine, and the majority of men as quite masculine. This probably reflects a feeling of ‘normality’ in terms of gender: being a woman most often goes with a sense of moderate femininity. Yet, gender positionings are organized differently by the two sexes: while one-third of men report being ‘very masculine’, less than a quarter of women feel ‘very feminine’; just over 9% of women feel ‘not very feminine’, while just 2% of men feel ‘not very masculine’. Differences in gender variations between the sexes doubtless reflect a lower value attributed to what is female than to what is male, but also an uncertainty about what it means to be a man or a woman.

Mots clés: Gender; feminine; masculine; VIRAGE survey; France

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société

Mathieu Trachman. Very masculine, not very feminine: social variations of gender. Population et sociétés, 2022, 605, pp.1-4. ⟨10.3917/popsoc.605.0001⟩. ⟨hal-04624699⟩