If you had to describe masculinity and feminity in a word or two what would it be?

For me...

Masculinity: protecting the weak

Feminity: loving the unloved

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@freemo Another interesting conversation! (Especially for a dabbler in symbology). I think the fundamental difference is that femininity (associated with water or geometrically, the circle) is a spiritual stance of accepting information; which is why it is associated with empathy because to do so you must take in the information being given by other people in order to empathize with them. Masculinity (fire or geometrically a line) is the opposite, a blocking out of information so that one can act (since the world produces a huge abundance of information that we cannot possibly process, we are required to block out some to not be overwhelmed all the time). Thus action (getting from point A to point B, like a line) is considered masculine and reception (ability to contain like a circle or a receptacle) is considered feminine. What is unclear to me is whether the association to human sexes came from the geometric association (the main distinguishing feature of the sexes, the genitals, resembling a line for men and a circle for women) or if some observations of generalities in human behavior led to the association (men being more prone to action without as much thought and women being more likely to "overthink" things, or at least think more than men do). That is my concise answer, believe it or not :ageblobcat:

@Clementulus The only thing that pisses me off about your response is it reminds me I cant follow a person twice... As someone who LOVES to study tghe occult and religions and the symbols they use we will get along just fine :)

I like your spiritual interpretation. I think I might modify it a bit.. femininity is taking in information (or we can even say ordered energy) and converting that into life-force (spirtual healing).. this lines up with empathy in, and nurturing out as a result of that empathy.

Masculinity is the reverse, they want to be the generators of ordered energy, but they consume their own life force (and when done in an unhealthy way the life force of others) to produce that energy.

I would further argue the woman is the point, the man is the line, and together they form the circle.

@freemo I agree with a lot of that. You also reminded me of another reason I believe it became associated with the division of human sexes is that the two energies are required to be in balance with each other for the act of creation (perhaps seen as positive organization of matter) to take place, just as both male and female bodies are required for procreation. This is opposed to the imbalance of these energies which causes dissolution; excess male energy is how we view aggression symbolically and excess female energy as anxiety.

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