Walking like a woman or man

[angela146]

I think we all are aware of the fact that there is a classic feminine way of walking versus the classic masculine way of walking.

Realizing, of course, that many people do not exhibit the walking style typical of their gender, I would, nonetheless like to have a discussion about the differences between women's and men's walks.

What got me thinking about this was when a man mentioned that most men don't use their feet to pull themselves forward. Apparently men lean forward, fall forward onto their lead foot and then push with their back foot.

What other walking-things do men do differently from women?

Examples:

Women tend to cross-over in front and tend to leave footprints in a streight line or sometimes footprints on the opposite side of the center line.

Men tend to walk with their feet apart and leave a definite width of space between their footprints with the left on the left and the right on the right.

 

[SeaCat]

To be honest, damned if I know.

I know that we do walk differently, and I know it's mainly because of the way the hips are different. (Muscle alignment as well as bone placement.) I just never thought about it much other than to admire the way a woman walks, and how it looks.

As for the description you gave of how a man walks, that just sounds like someone with bad balance.

If you want to see a neat walk, watch someone who spends a lot of time in the woods hunting. Their walk is definately different.

Cat

 

[cloudy]

one thing that makes women walk differently than men is that our center of balance is lower on our bodies than in men's.

Viva la diference!

 

[angela146]

As for the description you gave of how a man walks, that just sounds like someone with bad balance.

I probably am not describing it right.

 

[SlickTony]

Women tend to cross-over in front and tend to leave footprints in a streight line or sometimes footprints on the opposite side of the center line.

Men tend to walk with their feet apart and leave a definite width of space between their footprints with the left on the left and the right on the right.

Even given the variable provided by female pelvic structure, I don't think girls and boys start out walking that different. Then girls start getting drilled by their mothers (in my case, anyway) on how to walk "properly" or "like a lady" and it gets reinforced by charm schools, dance classes, and runway models.

Other factors are determined by culture. When I was in Iran I noticed that some girls had a very peculiar gait: it was about as far distant from the way a model traverses the catwalk as one could possibly get. It's hard to describe--a sort of outward rolling swing of the legs, as if she were trying to go in two different directions at once. Finally, I figured it out. These girls had been brought up in the chador, which in traditional society is donned at the age of five, and then left it off during the push for modernity encouraged by the Shah. You HAVE to walk this way while wearing one, because if you try to walk normally, the folds of the chador, lapping around your shins, get drawn in between your knees like laundry around the agitator post in your washer, until you are effectively hobbled and can do no more than mince.

 

[LadyJeanne]

Women naturally roll their hips as they shift their weight from leg to leg with each step. We learned how to exaggerate this in belly dancing class, with additional little hip thrusts. You can really see the hip roll when a woman climbs stairs.

 

[minsue]

Even given the variable provided by female pelvic structure, I don't think girls and boys start out walking that different. Then girls start getting drilled by their mothers (in my case, anyway) on how to walk "properly" or "like a lady" and it gets reinforced by charm schools, dance classes, and runway models.

I agree that it's more society than physiology, but that's prolly because of the number of times I've been told I walk like a guy.

 

[SlickTony]

I agree that it's more society than physiology, but that's prolly because of the number of times I've been told I walk like a guy.

'Zackly. I would imagine that a model or a western woman aspiring to elegance walks quite differently from a peasant woman in some developing country, leading goats to market or guiding the plow behind a brace of water buffalo.

 

[yui]

'Zackly. I would imagine that a model or a western woman aspiring to elegance walks quite differently from a peasant woman in some developing country, leading goats to market or guiding the plow behind a brace of water buffalo.

I also think that different styles of walks are cultivated to attract the opposite sex in different cultures. Just like eye contact/smiling/many social gestures can be misconstrued outside of the West; a certain walk might convey the wrong (or right message ) in a society with different cultural/sexual boundaries.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

You see some interesting walks in gay bars. There's a particular walk I associate with femme gay men where they don't move their hips at all and keep their trunk and shoulders very still. They kind of glide.

Then I've seen butch lesbians do very exaggerated shoulders rolling too. Maybe the shoulders are involved more than I thought.

---dr.M.

 

[Guest]

I recognize masculine and feminine walks easily but I find the not-norm interesting. I know I walk differently at times due to how I feel. There's a defined gait, sometimes suggestive, when I feel sexy or just especially good. When I need sex I know I walk a certain way and get really annoyed that someone doesn't grab me and fuck me on the spot.

Perdita

 

[elsol]

I've noticed this with girlfriends who wore a lot of high heels.

I have a more natural runners step that rolls the foot forward; plant the heel, and then 'roll' to the toes.

A woman that wear high heels can't balance by putting the heel down that way so they plant with the ball of the foot.

Sincerely,
ElSol