Feminine Gender

I've begun searching for blogs that have some bearing on this one. This raises the question of what has bearing. What, exactly am I trying to accomplish by writing this?

The first good blog I've found is Penny Red, and I just read an especially interesting post about this idea of Pantomime Dames. She makes good points about the nature of femininity.

One of the things I studied as an undergrad. w/an anthropology minor was this concept of cultural identities, including at the basic level of gender. Bottom line: sex is physical, gender is behavioral. Penny Red's big point is that there's talk about male-to-female transsexuals "immitating" femininity, which is a crock because they're only do the same things any biological female is doing - assuming learned behaviors associated with the female gender.

Which brings me back to this blog. I've spent most of my life being, to a greater or lesser extent, uncomfortable with my femininity. I've tended to associate feminine traits with weakness, masculine traits with strength. With the intense desire to be strong and independent, I've grabbed onto masculine behaviors and shunned all things "girly." In the past couple of years I've eased up on this a bit. Still, at times when I, for instance, wear a dress, I tend to feel uncomfortable and self-conscious, as if I'm just pretending.

This is why Penny Red's post struck me so. I realize that your average m-t-f transgendered or transsexual is probably more comfortable with feminine behaviors that I, a biological female, am. It's an interesting thought.