On Webster

A word on definitions: defining a word is simply taking a concept or idea, and translating the abstract thought back into the physical realm in the form of a spoken or written word. Womanhood is sometimes hard to see in the physical, so translating it into word makes this vague concept more tangible.

Peter Kreeft’s chapter on definitions in his work: Socratic Logic is helpful in finding the best definition for this concept. He illustrates how the best definition of a concept would be a statement that identified the thing’s essence, as well as its specific difference. An essence is stated by finding what “general class the thing essentially belongs to.” (Kreeft 126) In other words, what is femininity at its essential nature? Christianity is a religion. Flowers are plants. Djembe is a type of drum. Next, “the specific difference tells us how the thing defined differs from all other members of its class.” (Kreeft 126) For example: flowers are a plant, but they are not trees or bushes.

There are other rules for defining concepts. A definition cannot be metaphorical, vague, circular, or only defined by what it is not. Many definitions of being ‘feminine’ break these rules and thus are not helpful. An example of a circular definition would be: What is femininity? The quality of being a woman. A woman then, is the state of being a female genetically, as well as possessing feminine qualities, which is just another way of saying ‘feminine’. In Christian writing on the topic, I also see a lot of vague examples or insights on the definition, but it is never really stated. And then there is the negative definition. Women are not men. Feminine is not masculine. Again, completely unhelpful.

So what is femininity?

Femininity is a set of characteristics through which humanity proclaims the manifold nature and glory of God. Humanity does this by baring His image either uniquely as a male or as a female. Feminine characteristics are differentiated from the other ways mankind bares the image of God in that they are not moral characteristics, or masculine characteristics.

So there it is in a nut shell.