effeminacy

[ ih-fem-uh-nuh-see ]

noun

1. the state or quality of being effeminate.

Word History and Origins

Origin of effeminacy¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; effemin(ate) + -acy

Example Sentences

It imposes a sentence of 10 to 15 years for same-sex relations and a prison term of one to three years for people who undergo or perform gender-transition surgeries and for “intentional practice of effeminacy.”

From Seattle Times

This was defined by a cultivated or performed effeminacy, including make-up, falsetto, and the use of "camp names" and female pronouns.

From Salon

Warhol also embraced camp as a personal style, performing a theatrical effeminacy that equated to a strategic queerness designed to discomfit those among his contemporaries who held him to be "too swish."

From Salon

He was criticized by his church and sent to therapy to fix his effeminacy at age 5.

From Seattle Times

In the movie’s telling, communism, intellectualism, and effeminacy were all the same thing—and alien to red-blooded, all-American men.

From Slate