The English adjective to describe a man or boy whom the speaker/writer regards as exhibiting stereotypically or inappropriately feminine characteristics is "effeminate."
Please note that this word should be used with caution, if at all, as these days it is often seen as offensive. Also, please ...
I agree with @Lambie and it's not just "often instead of always", but rather that the word itself is not offensive, but it can be used in a statement which itself is offensive. Similarly, "tall" isn't an offensive word, but if I say "You can never trust tall people", it is my statement which is offensive, but none the words by themselves are offensive.
"The word itself is not offensive" - You know a lot of people that wouldn't take it badly to be called effeminate ? Nanigashi is right to advise caution when employing this word, even more when OP seems to think that a man being emotional or wearing pink is awkward.
There are essentially two questions happening here. The text and the images. You answered the text correctly. But I would say "androgynous" describes the first two images (I have no idea about the third)
@flater I disagree, if you asked someone "hey what did you think of Steve" then answering "tall" is pretty much never offensive but "effimate" quite often is, again depending on context.
@Flater "the word itself is not offensive, but it can be used in a statement which itself is offensive" → ... and that's why Nanigashi wrote "seen as offensive" instead of "offensive".
@walen: And that is why I'm pointing out that just because the statement is seen as offensive does not mean that the words themselves are seen as offensive.
@Borgh: Your interpretation of it being offensive relies on your assumption that the speaker must mean something negative by it (even if that is only your interpretation in certain contexts). That does not make the word offensive, it makes the statement offensive.
Pedantic debates about whether the offense derives from the actual word itself are dumb. The answer is EXTREMELY clear on this point, arguing that it should not say something it doesn't say is pointless.
@Borgh maybe tall isn't hurtful but if you put short instead it is hurtful and also certain qualities are associated with man by nature you can't just bend those things how much you want. But yes, some(qualities) may differ with culture. The point is as nanigashi said you should use it with caution like every words, the word itself isn't offensive.
@Flater The point is nowhere in Nanigashi's unedited answer does it say that the word is offensive, only that it can be seen as offensive by some. To use barbecue's words: why do you keep arguing that this answer shouldn't say something that it did not say?
@Echox Than word 'short' is offensive too.what if you call someone short who is short? same like that. As I said before some characteristics are naturally man and women associated. They are as factual as referring someone's height as tall and short relative to each other.
"effeminate" is certainly the best word for the question, but as a bit of usage advice, it may be slightly better to say "he has some effeminate mannerisms" than "he is effeminate". In no case would this be a means of describing someone in a formal situation, but for example, if a friend asked you in confidence, "Is your friend Bob gay?" you might answer (assuming you know this to be the case) "No, he's not, but he has some effeminate mannerisms." Any time you wade into discussions of someone's behaviour like this, it's sensitive you need to be careful.
As one example of time changing a culture's opinion, in the USA, pink was once considered too strong a color for a girl. Baby boys typically had pink clothes and light blue was used for baby girls.
@muralee_maddy For starters, things that are referred to as "effeminate" are essentially arbitrary, and depend quite significantly on the culture. What might be effeminate in one culture could be seen as a manly trait in another. "Tall" or "short" are absolutely relative, instead of subjectively relative; so there is a difference. If you want to use effeminate as "lacking a penis" then you have a objective metric; but most people are using it based on subjective evaluations about what is manly and feminine, so you'd be using a word completely different than everyone else.
@walen: OP's description ("behaving like a woman") is just as offensive. The word "effeminate" does not in any way add to the offense that "behaving like a woman" could contextually convey. That is an important distinction to make, because the offense (if contextually applicable) is present regardless of the word "effeminate" (and thus the word is not seen as offensive, even if the message it conveys can be). This is different from words that carry additional connotations (e.g. the more offensive "imbecile" vs"intellectually disabled", even though they technically mean the same thing)
@Flater #1: Yes, OP's description can be seen just as offensive by the same people that'd find 'effeminate' offensive. #2: #1 has nothing to do with the fact that this answer does not say the word itself is offensive, so it cannot not-say what it already not-says. #3: No, the offense is not "present regardless of the word used". If I say a man wears pink, is emotional etc., that's all I'm saying; if I say a man doing that is effeminate, I am qualifying that behavior as improper for a man AND implying your (wo)man-ness depends on how you behave —and that's where the offense lies.
@Lambie I agree. The word itself is not offensive. And this answer does not say it is.
@walen: this word should be used with caution, if at all, as these days it is often seen as offensive Grammatically, this explicitly states that the word ("it") is often seen as offensive. Your claim that this is not stated in the answer is simply not correct.
There are few words in a language which are directly offensive in and of themselves (I believe it's just the expletives, and no other words). However, there are words where it is tremendously difficult for someone who is just learning the word to determine whether or not they will be treated as offensive. It is not unusual to claim such words may be offensive when showing them to people, and then let those people determine what contexts they can be reasonably used later.
An example of this effect can be found in Rush Hour. Right before the scene linked, Chris Tucker's character tells Jackie Chan's character to "just do what I do." Chris Tucker's character walks in, and casually uses the N-word with a patron of the bar. Now native English speakers know that the N-word is a tremendously offensive word in almost all situations -- so much so that I'm avoiding typing it here, though the movie does say it. However, there are a few situations where it can be used in a non-offensive way ....
... almost exclusively by black people (though there may be some other uses where it is not offensive that I am unaware of). Chris Tucker, of course, fits this demographic, and more importantly, fits several cultural patterns which support his use of the word in an unoffensive way. However, at 2:48, Jackie Chan tries to use the same phrasing (remembering "do what I do" from earlier). Jackie Chan does not have the same skin color as Chris Tucker and fails to use it in the correct way to not cause offense (even though he said the same thing, word for word). A bar fight ensues.
In such complicated situations, it's not uncommon to simply say "the word is offensive," as we do with the N-word, and let speakers very slowly figure out the more nuanced reality on their own.
"Effeminate" is not nearly as offensive of a word as the N-word (you'll note I am willing write out "effeminate"), of course, but the same logic applies. It's very difficult to tell when such word choice would be offensive or not until you spend a fair amount of time in the culture getting used to how they think. In the case of "effeminate" I believe the majority of people would not take offense at the word. However, there are a few who would be quite offended if the word was used to apply to them. Those people typically have very strong opinions on gender roles.
I would just tone down the section about offensiveness. While the people who find the notion offensive are currently being given a lot of attention, it's not clear how much of our society is actually offended by gender differentiation or even stereotypes. Your answer implicitly asserts that a vast majority of the population is offended by it.
@CortAmmon Using the word 'nigger' as an example in the context of this discussion is not offensive, as it is not directed at anyone. I understand the cultural pressure to which you have been exposed. However I find this self-censorship both sad and offensive because it injects fear into a rational discussion. The suggestion that exposure to a word might lead us to use it offensively is also semi-insulting. It's not important here but I wanted to make you aware of this, without passing judgment.
Discussion on answer by Nanigashi: Is…
Discussion on answer by Nanigashi: Is…