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Sissy (derived from sister), also sissy baby, sissy boy, sissy man, sissy pants, etc., is a pejorative term for a boy or man who does not demonstrate masculinity traits, is Effeminacy and shows possible signs of fragility. Generally, sissy implies a lack of courage, strength, athleticism, coordination, testosterone, male libido, and stoicism. A man might also be considered a sissy for being interested in stereotypically feminine hobbies or employment (e.g., being fond of fashion), displaying effeminate behavior, being unathletic or being Homosexuality.
Sissy is also the male counterpart of tomboy (a girl 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, while tomboy rarely causes as much concern but also elicits pressure to conform to social expectations.Compton, D. and Knox, E. (2015), "Sissies and tomboys." The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality, pp 1115–1354 In some communities, especially ones whose members are prominently part of the later generations of Millennials and Generation Z, highly effeminate males are referred to as "" (feminine boy), a term which aims to provide a way to refer to effeminate males without negative connotations.
The word sissy in its original meaning of "sister" entered American English around 1840–1850 and acquired its pejorative meaning around 1885–1890; the verb sissify appeared in 1900–1905. Random House Dictionary, p. 1787. In comparison, the word tomboy is approximately three centuries older, dating to 1545–1555. Random House Dictionary p. 1993.
By the 1930s, "there was no more damning insult than to be called a sissy" and the word was widely used by American football coaches and sports writers to disparage rival teams and encourage ferocious player behavior.Oriard, M. (2001), . University of North Carolina Press. . The use of the word sissy 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.Grant, J. (2014), . Johns Hopkins University Press, New York, pp. 143-144. . Good students were taunted as sissies and clothing styles associated with higher social classes were demeaned as sissified. Among members of a Detroit, 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.
By the late 1980s, some men began to reappropriation the term sissy for themselves.Pronger, B. (1990), , New York, St Martin's Press. The spelling variation cissy was used in British English, at least prior to the mid 1970s. (1976 Edition), Chicago, IL, Doubleday & Company, Inc., pp. 376 and 1951. . In the United States, the Comedy Central television series South Park inverted its meaning in a 2014 episode titled "The Cissy", which lampooned the controversy over transgender students' use of school restrooms;Steinmetz, K. (2015). "Everything You Need to Know About the Debate Over Transgender People and Bathrooms". Time. in the episode, a restroom initially designated for use by transgender students is later re-designated as "the cissy bathroom" for use by transphobic cisgender students.
In 2021, the National Radio and Television Administration of China added a ban on "sissy men and other abnormal esthetics" to its rules using the offensive term niang pao.
The term sissyphobia denotes a negative cultural reaction against "sissy boys" thought prevalent in 1974. Sissyphobia has more recently been used in some queer studies; other authors in this latter area have proposed effeminiphobia, femiphobia,Bailey, Michael (1995). "Gender Identity", The Lives of Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals, p. 71–93. New York: Harcourt Brace. femmephobia, or effemimania as alternative terms.
Gregory M. Herek wrote that sissyphobia arises as a combination of misogyny and homophobia. 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).
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).
Autogynephilic Persuasive Pornography (AGPP) or Sissy 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.Citation Vadapalli, S. K., & Kuss, D. J. (2024). Sissy Hypno: Conceptualisation of autogynephilic persuasive pornography (AGPP) and an investigative exploration of the experiences of its consumers. Sexuality & Culture: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 28
In paraphilic infantilism, a sissy baby is a man who likes to play the role of a baby girl.
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