Sissy (derived fromsister), oftencissy,[1] alsosissy baby,sissy boy,sissy man,sissy pants, etc., is apejorative term for a boy or man who does not demonstratemasculine traits, iseffeminate and shows possible signs of fragility. Generally,sissy implies a lack ofcourage,strength, athleticism,coordination,testosterone, malelibido, andstoicism. A man might also be considered a sissy for being interested in stereotypically feminine hobbies or employment (e.g., being fond of fashion), displayingeffeminate behavior, being unathletic or beinghomosexual.[2]
Sissy is also the male counterpart oftomboy (a female with traits or interests of the opposite gender), but carries more strongly negative connotations. Research published in 2015 suggests that the terms are asymmetrical in their power to stigmatize:sissy is almost always pejorative and conveys greater severity, whiletomboy rarely causes as much concern but also elicits pressure to conform to social expectations.[3] In some communities, especially ones whose members are prominently part of the later generations ofMillennial[4] andGeneration Z, highly effeminate males are referred to as "femboys" (feminine boy), a term which aims to provide a way to refer to effeminate males without negative connotations.
Sissy is also a term of endearment used as a diminutive for the female given nameCecilia. Its usage as a diminutive for Cecilia dates back to at least the late 19th century. Its usage is explicitly called out in Charles Dickens'Hard Times: For These Times.[5] However, it has since fallen out of favor, coinciding with the rise in its usage as a pejorative.[citation needed]
The termsissy has historically been used among school children as a "relentlessly negative" insult, implying immaturity and gender or sexual deviance.[6] It has been identified assexist in guidance issued to schools in the United Kingdom[7] and described as "just as unacceptable as racist and homophobic language."[8] The termsgender creative,[9]pink boy,[10] andtomgirl[11] have been suggested as polite alternatives. The Japanese wordbishōnen (literally "beautiful youth") and the Korean wordkkonminam (literally "flower boy") are also polite terms for a man or boy with gentle or feminine attributes.
The wordsissy in its original meaning of "sister" entered American English around 1840–1850 and acquired its pejorative meaning around 1885–1890; the verbsissify appeared in 1900–1905.[12] In comparison, the wordtomboy is approximately three centuries older, dating to 1545–1555.[13]
By the 1930s, "there was no more damning insult than to be called asissy" and the word was widely used by American football coaches and sports writers to disparage rival teams and encourage ferocious player behavior.[14] The use of the wordsissy was "ubiquitous" among delinquent American youth of the 1930s; the term was used to provoke boys to join gangs, demean boys who violated group norms, force compliance with the mandates of masculinity, and justify violence (including sexual violence) against younger and weaker children.[15] Good students were taunted as sissies and clothing styles associated with higher social classes were demeaned assissified. Among members of aDetroit, Michigan youth gang in 1938–39,sissy was "the ultimate slur" used to tease and taunt other boys, as a rationalization for violence against rivals, and as an excuse for not observing the dicta of middle-class decorum and morality.[15]
By the late 1980s, some men began toreclaim the termsissy for themselves.[16] The spelling variationcissy was used in British English, at least prior to the mid 1970s.[17] In the United States, the Comedy Central television seriesSouth Park inverted its meaning in a 2014 episode titled "The Cissy", which lampooned the controversy overtransgender students' use of school restrooms;[18] in the episode, a restroom initially designated for use by transgender students is later re-designated as "the cissy bathroom" for use by transphobiccisgender students.
In China, men who display feminine characteristics are sometimes perceived as threats to masculine power. For example, in 2018, official Chinese state media derided "sissy pants" young men (who use makeup, are slender, and wear androgynous clothing) as part of a "sickly" culture that threatened the future of the nation by undermining its militaristic image.[19][20] In 2021,China's Ministry of Education issued guidelines for the "cultivation of students' masculinity" to "prevent the feminization of male adolescents" through sports, physical education, and "health education" in schools.[21][22]
In 2021, theNational Radio and Television Administration of China added a ban on "sissy men and other abnormal esthetics" to its rules using the offensive termniang pao.[23]
In hisThe "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality (1987), the sexologistRichard Green compared two groups of boys: one group was conventionally masculine; the other group, who Green called "feminine boys" and other children called "sissy", engaged in doll play and other behavior typical for girls.[24] In his 15-year longitudinal study, Green looked at cross-gender behavior in boys who later turned out to be transgender, or homosexual as well as a control group, and analyzed such features as interest in sports, playroom toy preferences, doll-play fantasy, physical behavior ("acting like a girl" vsrough-and-tumble play),cross-dressing, and psychological behavior,[24]: 21–29 using tests, questionnaires, interviews, and follow-ups. He also looked at the influence of parental relationships[24]: 353–369 and reaction to atypical behavior. Later follow-ups found that, ultimately,3⁄4 of the feminine or "sissy" boys developed into gay or bisexual men, whereas only one of the control group did. Analysis of the nature/nurture issue was inconclusive.[24]: 385
The termsissyphobia denotes a negative cultural reaction against "sissy boys" thought prevalent in 1974.[25] Sissyphobia has more recently been used in somequeer studies;[26] other authors in this latter area have proposedeffeminiphobia,[27]femiphobia,[28]femmephobia, oreffemimania[29][30] as alternative terms.
Gregory M. Herek wrote that sissyphobia arises as a combination ofmisogyny andhomophobia.[31] Communication scholar Shinsuke Eguchi (2011) stated:
The discourse of straight-acting produces and reproduces anti-femininity and homophobia (Clarkson. 2006). For example, feminine gay men are often labeled "fem," "bitchy," "pissy," "sissy," or "queen" (e.g., Christian, 2005; Clarkson, 2006; Payne, 2007). They are perceived as if they perform like "women," spurring straight-acting gay men to have negative attitudes toward feminine-acting gay men (Clarkson, 2006; Payne, 2007; Ward, 2000). This is called sissyphobia (Bergling, 2001). Kimmel (1996) supports that "masculinity has been (historically) defined as the flight from women and the repudiation of femininity" (p. 123). Thus, sissyphobia plays as the communication strategy for straight-acting gay men to justify and empower their masculinity. (p. 38).[32]
Eguchi added, "I wonder how 'sissyphobia' particularly plays into the dynamic of domestic violence processes in the straight-acting and effeminate-acting male same-sex coupling pattern." (p. 53).[32]
In theBDSM practice offorced feminization, the malebottom undergoingcross-dressing may be called a sissy as a form oferotic humiliation. Another common theme is the use of achastity belt, compounding the male bottom's humiliation by restricting the size and access to their genitals.
Autogynephilic Persuasive Pornography (AGPP) orSissy Hypno follows the similar context of the above where the viewer (typically male) is suggested in a hypnotic manner to undergo "sissyfication" via suggestive audio and hypnotic visuals.[33]
Inparaphilic infantilism, asissy baby is a man who likes to play the role of a baby girl.[34]
an effeminate boy or man, especially a homosexual; a coward. US, 1879.
Other children called them 'sissy.' ...Our boys would have preferred being girls. They liked to dress in girls' or women's clothes. They preferred Barbie dolls to trucks. Their playmates were girls. When they played 'mommy-daddy' games, they were mommy. And they avoided rough-and-tumble play and sports, the usual reasons for the epithet 'sissy.'
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