Women in the Early Middle Ages were referred to simply within their traditional roles of maiden, wife, or widow. Professor of English Tara Williams has suggested that modern notions of femininity in English-speaking society began during the medieval period at the time of the bubonic plague in the 1300s.
: 5 Among scholars, the concept of femininity has varying meanings. Venus was a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty and fertility.ĭespite the terms femininity and masculinity being in common usage, there is little scientific agreement about what femininity and masculinity are. The Birth of Venus (1486, Uffizi) is a classic representation of femininity painted by Sandro Botticelli.
