单项选择题

This concept of being a sissy is s key concept for understanding of American character: it has no exact parallel in any other society. It has nowadays become a term of criticism which can be applied to anyone, regardless of age or sex ; although it is similar to some English terms of public shame (e. g. coward, crybaby, nanny, mother’s darling) it is more than any of them. Put it simply, it means showing more dependence or fear or lack of initiative or passivity than is suitable for the occasion. It can be applied to a gambler hesitant about risking his money, to a mother over anxious about the pain her child may suffer at the hands of a surgeon, to a boy shy about asking a popular girl for a" date", to stage girl, to overt anxiety about a visit to the dentist, to a little girl crying because her doll is broken ,just as well as to occasions which directly elicit courage or initiative or independence and which may be responded to more or less adequately. It is the overwhelming fear of all American parents that their child will turn into a sissy; it is the overwhelming fear of all American parents from the moment that they can understand language that they may be taken for a sissy ; and a very great deal of American speech and activity, so often misinterpreted by non -Americans, is designed solely to avert this damning judgement. Particularly. Self - confident Americans may say" I guess I’m just a sissy...", when they feel quite sure that they are not. When applied to adult males the term also implies sexual passivity.
What is the tone of the passage