Which Cities Do You See as Masculine Or Feminine?

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

you could very easily argue the reverse

Not if you are going with traditional archetypes. The Female has always been nature and chaos and the male the human order out of nature.

Try not to let modern gender relations confuse the purpose of traditional archetypal representations.

[jd3189]

Originally Posted by badrunner

Cities that are planned out, on a grid, aligned to the heavens, with buildings lined up in neat rows and columns like soldiers in formation = masculine.

Cities that are unplanned, organic, with roads twisting every which way, with every building and road doing its own thing = feminine.

But in the bigger picture, every city is masculine because cities bring order (masculine) to the chaotic natural environment (feminine).

If a woman was reading this, she would full on think we were all sexist pigs


I always thought NYC to be masculine. Miami is probably more feminine as well as LA. I also believe Chicago to be hyper masculine despite the high feminine contributions, only when considering archetypes. Atlanta, I don’t know. Houston... ultimately masculine.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by jd3189

If a woman was reading this, she would full on think we were all sexist pigs


I always thought NYC to be masculine. Miami is probably more feminine as well as LA. I also believe Chicago to be hyper masculine despite the high feminine contributions, only when considering archetypes. Atlanta, I don’t know. Houston... ultimately masculine.

Take it from a native, Houston's a bitch!

[bilbao58]

I don't know if Dallas is masculine or feminine, but I do know it's definitely a "fashion victim."

[dc_denizen]

Los Angeles feminine heterosexual — very pneumatic
Seattle and Portland masculine (but may enjoy pegging)
New York masculine Jewish gay (Larry Kramer or Allen Ginsburg)
Minneapolis lesbian feminine (like the us women’s soccer team)
Miami feminine Latina (heavy 80s style bush)
Dc asexual (eg bob doles marriage, sausage parties, male Christian republican representatives rooming together in a capital hill rowhouse). Single woman in her forties who never got married or had kids because of her career
Houston - masculine, a goateed guy with a big truck and a small penis

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Houston - masculine, a goateed guy with a big truck and a small penis

Excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me????? You obviously spent all your time in Pasadena.

[dc_denizen]

Ok ok a bit harsh, but you have to admit the goateed look with the truck is pretty typical

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Ok ok a bit harsh, but you have to admit the goateed look with the truck is pretty typical

Nahhh! Not inside the Loop!

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by jd3189

If a woman was reading this, she would full on think we were all sexist pigs


I always thought NYC to be masculine. Miami is probably more feminine as well as LA. I also believe Chicago to be hyper masculine despite the high feminine contributions, only when considering archetypes. Atlanta, I don’t know. Houston... ultimately masculine.

As a woman, it's more that I'm confused at the criteria to determine masculine and feminine. A lot of cities like San Francisco that are listed as feminine here actually seem super masculine from my point of view, and vice versa. At least once you move on from the "nature and art = feminine and finance and sport = masculine" dichotomy.

For instance, Chicagoans from 1871 to 1940 were absolutely convinced Chicago was feminine when they cared to personify the city. (For the critics, Chicago was a scarlet woman.) And that was at the height of its manufacturing prowess and reliance on brawn.

Personally, I've always thought that the city was both hyper-masculine and hyper-feminine at the same time. If we're talking archetypes it's the city of beauty and order. Other cities are the same. They just combine different masculine and feminine attributes.





" She stood in a patch of sunlight, the red blood under her shoes, the vivid carcasses stacked round her, a bullock bleeding its life away not six feet away from her, and, the death-factory roaring all round her. She looked curiously, with hard, bold eyes, and was not ashamed.

Then said I: ‘This is a special Sending. I have seen the City of Chicago.’ And I went away to get peace and rest. " ---Rudyard Kipling, 1899

[jd3189]

^^^ That is true. Cities can have valid characteristics of both. And I didn’t know about those Chicago references. I'm only familiar with the skyscrapers, sports culture, and food culture so this is new. Thanks for sharing.

[liat91]

NYC is still masculine but trending less so.
LA is 50/50
Chicago is masculine
Toronto is 50/50
San Francisco is feminine
Philadelphia is masculine
DC is masculine
Boston is masculine
Dallas is masculine
Houston is masculine
Atlanta is 50/50
Miami is masculine
Detroit is masculine
Seattle is feminine
Phoenix is masculine
Denver is 50/50

[craigs]

How does a city regularly slammed for its rough qualities--violent crazies, sleeping in the open, public urination, public drug injection, car break-ins, gun-toting illegal aliens--end up characterized as "feminine?" What sort of sketchy, low-down hags are you guys running with, anyway?

[S Car Go]

Posting in an epic thread.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by craigs

How does a city regularly slammed for its rough qualities--violent crazies, sleeping in the open, public urination, public drug injection, car break-ins, gun-toting illegal aliens--end up characterized as "feminine?" What sort of sketchy, low-down hags are you guys running with, anyway?

Don't forget San Francisco is also a total sausage party

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

As a woman, it's more that I'm confused at the criteria to determine masculine and feminine. A lot of cities like San Francisco that are listed as feminine here actually seem super masculine from my point of view, and vice versa.

It's because MEN like to romanticize or anthropomorphize cities, ships etc that they love as women, for obvious reasons. There's really nothing feminine about a battleship is there? This cultural linguistic phenomenon is entirely a male flight of fancy.

Here's a great example:
• Video Link

[ChiSoxRox]

This thread:

[KB0679]

For the sake of simplicity (and perhaps to be just a bit of a party pooper), I'd consider cities named after women or that bear the feminized version of a traditionally male name to be feminine and cities named after men (and if there are any that bear a masculinized version of a traditionally female name, none of which readily come to mind for me) to be masculine. All others are androgynous by default.

[SIGSEGV]

Masculine:

San Francisco
San Jose
St. Louis
San Diego
Los Angeles
San Bernardino


Feminine:
Las Vegas
Santa Fe
Santa Barbara
Santa Clara
Sault Ste. Marie

[Nantais]

Originally Posted by Obadno

I honestly think that all cities are feminine, like ships and cars

In French cities and cars are definitely feminine but ships are always masculine, so I am often confused when I read or hear "she" for a vessel.

[muppet]

I tend to think of most cities as Masculine - power & grit & workaday industry overriding in my minds eye rather than elegance and socialising. So biased at times


M

London
Moscow
Istanbul
Beijing
Tokyo
NYC
LA
Sao Paulo
Mexico City
Mumbai
Rome
Berlin
Brussels
Hong Kong
Delhi
Cairo
Toronto
Madrid



F

Paris
Vienna
Barcelona
San Francisco
Venice
Shanghai
Bangkok
Cape Town
St Petersburg
Singapore
Lisbon
Montreal
Warsaw
Manila