femmeness en · NOUN
Etymology
From femme + -ness.
Meanings
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(uncountable) The state or quality of being femme.
What is the appeal of femmeness since it doesn't have the obvious attractions of maleness, i.e. power and privilege, associated with it?
1989, Sheila Jeffreys, “Butch and Femme: Now and then”, in Not a Passing Phase: Reclaiming Lesbians in History 1840-1985, page 180:Some femmes share heterosexual pasts, some pass through butchness before they arrive at femmeness, some move back and forth between boy identities and woman identities.
1998, Sally Munt, Cherry Smyth, Butch/femme: Inside Lesbian Gender, page 61:I suggest that anyone who is queer and feels an affinity toward femmeness has a legitimate claim to it.
2019, Morgan Lev Edward Holleb, The A-Z of Gender and Sexuality: From Ace to Ze, page 113: