Effeminacy. II. Variation with social context.

Overview

In Part II, effeminacy in an in vivo social situation was studied and the Effeminacy Scale described in Part I was tested. Nineteen subjects were studied and videotaped while participating in four encounter groups, of which two were homosexual and two heterosexual. There were large situational variations in expressivity of effeminacy during group meetings. High-frequency levels of effeminate responses were observed to parallel high levels of anxiety or anger. At other times, effeminate responses were observed which seemed to subserve sexual signaling functions or which seemed related to narcissistic retreat (self-cuddling) or castration anxiety (e.g., cupping the genitals). Interrater reliability with the Effeminacy Scale for two nonprofessional raters viewing the same videotaped material from the group was 0.93 (Pearson r).