femmephobia

F4E1M3M3E1P3H4O1B3I1A1

noun

Dislike of, or hostility towards, women and/or individuals who present as feminine (femmes).

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Meanings

nounfemmephobia (uncountable)
  1. uncountableDislike of, or hostility towards, women and/or individuals who present as feminine (femmes).

    Masculine women, butches, and masc who aren't men do not benefit from femmephobia.

    2019, Morgan Lev Edward Holleb, The A-Z of Gender and Sexuality: From Ace to Ze, page 115
    2 more examples

    Femmephobia is perhaps a more fitting description of Adolph's anxieties — he has a fear rather than a hatred of Frenchwomen.

    1999, T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, Black Venus: Sexualized Savages, Primal Fears, and Primitive Narratives in French, page 35

    It's no secret that transgender women absorb the brunt of hate that comes from femmephobia.

    2018, Brynn Tannehill, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Trans (But Were Afraid to Ask), page 320
  2. uncountableDislike of, or hostility towards, stereotypically effeminate gay men, especially within the gay community.

    Indeed, the existence of what has been labelled homophobia, I argue, may be more correctly analysed as a kind of "femmephobia", where same-sex relationships, particularly those between two men, are viewed as having the power to feminize men.

    2007, Annie Paul, Caribbean Culture: Soundings on Kamau Brathwaite, page 368
    2 more examples

    Probably the most visible and overt site of global(izing) patterns of femmephobia are male-male dating and sexual networking websites, ranging from Grindr, an Iphone application for sexual networking used primarily in the U.S., and Planetromeo, a dating site with a large following in India. […] A range of sample user profiles documented on the site include injunctions like the following: "Only into 101% masculine: Fems dnt fkin mssg me [sic]. College athlete (not some pansy sport"; "Looking for studs: no fats, fems [sic] or anyone above 30"; "If your only personality is gay, move on"; "Be masculine please! I'm gay don't want a girl!"; […]

    2013, Aniruddha Dutta, “Masculinities of Desire, Derision and Defiance: Global Gay Femmephobia and Kothi-Hijra-Trans Heterosexualities”, in Rohit K. Dasgupta, K. Moti Gokulsing, editors, Masculinity and Its Challenges in India: Essays on Changing Perceptions, page 146

    In the sexual minority men's community femmephobia typically appears as an abhorrence to stereotypical "gay" things such as liking musicals, lim wrists, sounding effeminate (i.e. a higher pitched voice or a feminine cadence), dressing in clothing considered to be for women and much more.

    2020, Emerson L. R. Barrett, “Sexing the Margins: Homonationalism in Gay Dating Apps”, in D. Nicole Farris, D'Lane R. Compton, Andrea P. Herrera, editors, Gender, Sexuality and Race in the Digital Age, page 126

Origin

From femme + -phobia.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

femmephobia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/femmephobia

MLA

“femmephobia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/femmephobia. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “femmephobia,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/femmephobia.

Source: femmephobia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.