I've never really thought about it deeply before, but isn't the 'traditional' male hands on hips stance symmetrical with both legs straight and shoulder width apart, whereas the female version is with one supporting leg and one 'play' leg as it is referred to in an earlier post? I'm certainly aware of the wider female hip shelf being used for example to support a young child, whereas for most men this would be completely impractical.
Did this thread make anyone else stand up and start playing around with stances to try and see which ones felt comfortable, natural, masculine or feminine?
dilane, you may have a point with the thumbs forward thing. Don't know what it means though
I can see the asymmetric version being effective for a woman being stern and telling someone off, whereas for a man it would be taken less seriously (just going with the stereotypes and saying how it is, I don't make the rules)
Susie
