Well, I don't know who specifically added the copy, but the words are from Madonna's "What it feels like" song.

The words are from the movie "The Cement Garden"=)

Madonna's song samples the quote from The Cement Garden. Interestingly, when you search for the quote online it is often attributed to Charlotte Gainsbourg, the actress who spoke the lines in The Cement Garden, though I assume she didn't write the screenplay. The clip from the movie is here: http://youtu.be/3ZU9vSItPjg.

This isn't new. David Bowie, Annie Lenox, etc. Androgyny and gender play was pretty common by the early 80s, but started with the Glam rockers of the mid 70s. Note the differences in how androgynous females were accepted more than, say, Boy George and it really isn't a new anything.

I agree on some levels, but as a butch lesbian, I can tell you that when you REALLY present as masculine, not just as a girl with short hair and jeans, it is NOT acceptable to quite a lot of people.

And not only do you get given a whole boatload of crap from the het world at large (two girls walking down the street get accosted by dudes...who do you think they will beat down first? the butch girl.), but we get it from lesbian women too. There is a whole lotta butch hate that goes on in the lesbian community.

It should be noted that throughout life, even on this blog on occasion, the same standard is applied to girls. Girls/women who are stereotypically feminine are often derided as being stupid or brainwashed, or have their sexual histories speculated upon maliciously. If seen ridiculous claims, such as any woman or teenage girl with a pink cell phone is an airheaded spoiled brat who "sleeps around." I've seen that claim made not only as a joke, but universally with absolute seriousness.....but, I have a pink cell phone. Of the model that I wanted, two color schemes were available: pink and grey, or blue and black. I do not like the color blue. I like the colors pink and grey. That is the extent you SHOULD take away from my choice, but people instead make the decision that I am wealthy (false, the phone was free), spoiled (the phone was free in either color), unintelligent (false, I think I have good critical thinking skills and street smarts, and have a relatively high GPA for those who put stock in those things), and "sleep around" (that's very subjective, but also false). More disturbing than saying a college student with a pink phone is stupid and slutty is when these same ideas are applied to young girls. I've seen claims like that, with the same language applied to 12 year olds who experiment with lipstick, 8 year olds who play Barbie, and 4 year olds who dress up in tutus. It's applied to cheerleaders of all ages (since it's a stereotypically female skirt, the athletic prowess required is downplayed, and even pee-wee cheerleaders are the recipients of slut-shaming language). It's a reason I hate that old P!nk song "Stupid Girls" so much that I still remember it despite it not having been popular for a few years. The video, especially, makes it clear. Girls who like Barbie are worthless. Girls who like fashion are worthless. Eating disorders (associated with young adult women) are not an illness, they're a result of being "girly" and they're hilarious because everyone who has them is stupid and slutty. Girls must play football to be good and smart. That was the most telling part; the message was not "books are better than Barbies" but "footballs are better than Barbies." Even though the stereotype of a boy that plays football is stupid and sexually aggressive to the point of being a rapist, that's still what a girl should aim for. A girl can elevate herself above stupid girls by becoming equal to stupid boys. And her fate is sealed by what she plays with and which clothes she wears at 8 years old.

The message is clear. Boys should be masculine and competent. Girls CAN be feminine, but it's better if they're masculine. Boys should never, ever be feminine.

I'm a bit uncomfortable with the statement that being a doctor or surgeon (or, for that matter, playing sports and drinking whiskey) is a "masculine" pursuit. I understand that the post is probably just referring to the fact that these are things that are socially constructed as masculine, but that reading doesn't come across immediately, and it's quite possible to just see this as a statement that "being a doctor (or a surgeon, or playing sports, or drinking whiskey) is inherently masculine." I suppose that the case could be made that they are, in fact, "masculine", if we define "masculine" to mean "a thing that men are vaguely more likely to do, under current social conditions", but that's not a universally-accepted definition. Without it, the statement ends up sounding like it's accepting these activities as the property of males.

As a pretty darn masculine female-bodied queer person, I'd say this argument is a bit... reduced. To think that folks like me experience the world as a female-bodied masculine person and are accepted? No, it's really about degrees of acceptability.

I absolutely believe that androcentrism is a real deal, AND I think it's important to acknowledge that masculinity is only acceptable in read-as-female-bodied folks to a certain degree. After that degree, we face blatant and microaggressive discrimination, threats, beatings, etc. the difference is that my society accepts more perceived masculinity in read-as-female-bodied people than it does any degree of perceived femininity in read-as-male-bodied people. I sure wish y'all had thrown in a few sentences about these nuances when you said "...Women are required to do femininity and simultaneously punished for it." And with varying race and class considerations, you have even a few more sentences to say about what is and is not acceptable female masculinity. The consequences of gender bending a little too far in any direction are very real.

I realize this is just a quick blog post, but it looks like an introduction to the concept of androcentrism. I think you're doing a disservice to gender benders of many types by not having a fuller definition. What this post says to me is, "Everyone can be masculine! But men can't be feminine!"

New sexism? Androcentrism has been inherent in sexism since day 1. "Don't be a mama's boy." and words like "sissy", "bitch", and "pussy" to refer to men.

http://www.tineye.com/search/1b44e8c64a27d61e9e47da233ca5dbea39908ccf/

This image search gives 15 possible locations for the image.

A question which is a bit away from the topic (on the topic I can only say - "well... duh, not fconfigrming to gender stereotypes is punished, with either verbal or physical abuse or in more subtle ways, as ingoring people") why GLBT? I remember when it was written LGBT and suddently the whole internet changed it to GLBT? Why? I mean, I am still using the other abreaviature, because it's easier to pronounce but am I missing something?

I think we all have a bit of male and female inside us - it's a question of deciding how much we want to play of each energy!

I'm all for heels, skirts and nail polish, but I'm also all about boxing!

The great thing, as women we can play off either side or the androgene side easier than men!

Great post!

Krizia
Women Entrepreneurs HQ Show

I showed this post to my boyfriend, who grew up in Syria, and his response was that in societies that strictly define gender roles, girls doing "guy things" even a little bit are sanctioned just as much as men doing "girl things" are.

I see a lot of people have already made the point that in American society, women who are seen as too masculine are definitely sanctioned. So even if American society is a little more flexible in this respect than some other societies are--it's still only a little bit.

Also called 'femmephobia', which I think is more apt than androcentricism.

Well, not from a movie, but from a book (brilliant btw).

I think it's ridiculous to say that pants and short hair make you a. A girl dressed that way still looks like a girl. Anyone in fashion will tell you that men's wear is simply utilitarian while women's wear is designed to accentuate the structure of a woman. Hence the old adage, "does my butt look big in these jeans" a man wearing woman's wear looks confused because a woman's body isn't the same as a man's and the parts its meant to accentuate don't exist on a man. Has nothing to do with women being any less, in fact it's the opposite. Men feel men are not and cannot (regardless of whether it's actually true) be as beautiful as a woman and so in dressing as one you expose an insecurity with the way you look. A woman in men's clothing still have the structure and visible parts that make her a women so she in fact transforms the clothing into women's clothing. A man has to first transform his body surgically to achieve that for real(padded bras and butts are not real) .

That's silly to punish people who don't like the colour that is 2 b assigned to their gender from the point of view of gender constructionism according to stupid piece of **** patriarchy: blue for boys and pink for girls. I don't wear pink often but that doesn't mean you get to punish me! I don't have to like pink but I prefer blue, black and orange. I bet that if you say mascunlity is favoured, well guess what; men die by accidents, suicides and other fatalities more and die earlier than women. That's what they get for being so stupid and a bigot! I wouldn't care if a man died like that, would I? Because that's what he deserves. 

If you're telling me that being a girl is worthless, it might lead me to hate myself and wish I was a boy. That's how self hatred would happen if it were real. Same thing with a boy being told that being a boy is a pig. He'll hate himself for being a boy. I'm not saying I hate being a girl, I'm saying if it happened countless times. Why don't we get messages that promote self love in regards to who you are? Cuz the medias stupid! Oh yeah boys who like blue are stupid, don't you think? Boys who are too masculine are stupid too! Thank god I get to wear gender neutral clothes but boys don't get to wear it. LOL Sorry boys you're stuck with wearing dorky clothes. You don't get to grow your hair either! Cuz we girls can get haircuts and grow our hair!

But women are punished for being too masculine too. Look at Hilary Clinton.

Don't know if it's been posted, but the copy is from "What It Feels Like For a Girl" by Madonna.

It really bothers me when guys act that girls are somehow privileged because they have more freedom in regards to acting more masculine or feminine. Yes, we have more freedom, but the privilege is gone when both options punish us. It's well known that guys are taught to limit their emotions, and some men might be envious of women who have full freedom to express their emotions. Yet, it comes at a price. Women are known as the crazy, irrational, emotional, illogical, PMSing gender. Our emotions aren't seen positively, they are seen as a weakness. People also treat women as if we are always crying wolf. If I have a concern, sometimes it won't get as much attentions as a man, because people assume that women are just overly sensitive and love to complain so much. It's as if people are under the impression that women have the liberty of expressing their emotions, therefore everything is always catered to us. So when someone has to decide whether to help out a man or a woman, people decide that women have gotten "enough" attention already. You see this a lot in movies, if a man cries, it is moving, touching, emotionally deep, worthy of sympathy, because people think, oh my goodness it takes so much to move a man to tears. So when we see them cry, he must have been through so much. When a girl cries, it's cliche, not the climax of the movie, easy to dismiss, not really a tragedy. When a guy cries, it's the most powerful part of the movie, when a girl cries, it just happens.

That "girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short" -quote was originally written by Ian McEwan.
It's from his book The Cement Garden, which was later made into a movie, from which Madonna then took a little bit into her song.

What the FUCK, journalist? You stink like a Feminist ghola!

This is such a wonderful & insightful article.