Physical Characteristics of the Passive-Feminine Male
This character has reached the genital stage physically, but interpersonally a great deal of masochistic function is lived out. The passive-aggressive male will have a warmth and poised manner that is attractive to and attracted to strong females but will have a strong castration anxiety that can only partially be alloyed by submissive behavior. This makes relationships unstable despite great reasonableness and ability to cooperate.
The name of this character from a slight physical aspect of femininity that exists within a very mature physical development. This is very different from an immature appearing male that looks in a general way like an immature female. The secondary sexual characteristics only fully develop when a person has reached genitality. Therefore ironically, a male that has reached the genital stage, such as the passive feminine male, is more capable of a certain feminine qualities, such as sinuous movement, than a pre-oedipal character, male or female. This is very different from a pre-genital male imitating a women's movements. In this latter case the movements, even if unconscious and certainly if conscious, will be exaggerated, hard, and a caricature of femininity.
Origins of the Passive Feminine Male Character
(Developmental Period – 4-6 Years)
Like all rigid subtypes, this character is believed to have had 'good enough' nurture up to 4 years of age or the start of the oedipal period. At that point, it is possible that the father was rejecting, and the mother was accepting of the child generally, and accepting of most male characteristics but not of aggression or sexual initiative.