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Woman: Difference between revisions
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{{Content warning|oppression, rape, reclaimed slurs}} | {{Content warning|oppression, rape, reclaimed slurs}} | ||
Anyone with a female [[gender identity]] is female: she is a [[woman]] or girl. Women are a very diverse group, and many assumptions about the definitive characteristics of womanhood are not held in common by all women. Having the ability or desire to give birth | Anyone with a female [[gender identity]] is female: she is a [[woman]] or girl. Women are a very diverse group, and many assumptions about the definitive characteristics of womanhood are not held in common by all women. Having the ability or desire to give birth is not what makes someone a woman, because many women and girls can't or don't want to do that, due to health conditions, age, or personal choice. Looking like a woman in other people's judgment does not make someone a woman, because others can misjudge that, and there are women who look masculine, and other people who look feminine, whether by choice or by nature. Only identifying as a woman makes someone a woman. Any woman's womanhood is valid no matter what kind of body parts she has, or what gender she was [[assigned gender at birth|assigned at birth]]. Cisgender women, transgender women, and [[intersex]] women are equally women. Because gender isn't the same thing as [[sexual orientation]], women are still women whether they feel sexual attraction to men (heterosexual), or to women ([[lesbian]]), or to people of any gender ([[bisexual]] or [[pansexual]]), or none ([[asexual]]). | ||
In the Western colonialist [[gender binary]] system, "woman" is considered to be one of the only two genders that exist, one of the [[binary gender]]s. For all of written history, cultures all over the world have acknowledged people who were gender-variant or who transitioned to a different gender role than the one assigned to them at birth. Ancient cultures that thought of there being a specific number of genders did not always say there were just two. In ancient Egyptian writings, [[Gender-variant identities worldwide#Sekhet|woman was one of three genders]], and in classical Jewish literature, [[Gender-variant identities worldwide#The six genders in classical Judaism|woman was one of six genders]]. The gender binary is an artificial and relatively new concept to humanity. Gender is not inherently binary. Therefore, "woman" is not inherently a binary gender. Rather, "woman" is one of many genders that people have. Throughout [[history of nonbinary gender|the history of the world]], there have been many people who do not identify with being only female or male, who are therefore [[nonbinary]]. There are also people who identify partly as a woman, and yet do not feel they completely fit into that category, so they call themselves nonbinary women. Although the gender binary system is coercive and limiting, "woman" is a valid identity. Womanhood can be better understood as an identity in its own right, rather than as an opposite pole in a binary system.<ref name="labelle">Sophie Labelle. ''Assigned Male'' (political comic). February 6, 2019. https://assignedmale.tumblr.com/post/182605182667</ref> | In the Western colonialist [[gender binary]] system, "woman" is considered to be one of the only two genders that exist, one of the [[binary gender]]s. For all of written history, cultures all over the world have acknowledged people who were gender-variant or who transitioned to a different gender role than the one assigned to them at birth. Ancient cultures that thought of there being a specific number of genders did not always say there were just two. In ancient Egyptian writings, [[Gender-variant identities worldwide#Sekhet|woman was one of three genders]], and in classical Jewish literature, [[Gender-variant identities worldwide#The six genders in classical Judaism|woman was one of six genders]]. The gender binary is an artificial and relatively new concept to humanity. Gender is not inherently binary. Therefore, "woman" is not inherently a binary gender. Rather, "woman" is one of many genders that people have. Throughout [[history of nonbinary gender|the history of the world]], there have been many people who do not identify with being only female or male, who are therefore [[nonbinary]]. There are also people who identify partly as a woman, and yet do not feel they completely fit into that category, so they call themselves nonbinary women. Although the gender binary system is coercive and limiting, "woman" is a valid identity. Womanhood can be better understood as an identity in its own right, rather than as an opposite pole in a binary system.<ref name="labelle">Sophie Labelle. ''Assigned Male'' (political comic). February 6, 2019. https://assignedmale.tumblr.com/post/182605182667</ref> | ||
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* Breasts (a secondary sexual characteristic), unless if they never developed, or they had them removed (mastectomy) to treat or prevent breast cancer | * Breasts (a secondary sexual characteristic), unless if they never developed, or they had them removed (mastectomy) to treat or prevent breast cancer | ||
* Has a hormone balance with estrogen higher than testosterone, and the presence of progesterone | * Has a hormone balance with estrogen higher than testosterone, and the presence of progesterone | ||
* Chromosomes that are XX (textbook example), XY (androgen insensitivity syndrome), XXX (triple X syndrome), XXXX, X (Turner syndrome), or others. People rarely take a test to find out what these are, unless | * Chromosomes that are XX (textbook example), XY (androgen insensitivity syndrome), XXX (triple X syndrome), XXXX, X (Turner syndrome), or others. People rarely take a test to find out what these are, unless they think it might explain another physical challenge. | ||
It is possible for a cisgender woman to have a body with few of the above physical characteristics that are usually used to describe a typical cisgender female body. For example, cisgender women who have had hysterectomies and mastectomies to survive cancer are nonetheless real women, as much as they ever were. Furthermore, having the above characteristics | It is possible for a cisgender woman to have a body with few of the above physical characteristics that are usually used to describe a typical cisgender female body. For example, cisgender women who have had hysterectomies and mastectomies to survive cancer are nonetheless real women, as much as they ever were. Furthermore, having the above characteristics does not make someone a cisgender woman. For example, some people who were assigned female at birth but identify as a different gender have these characteristics. Some people with intersex conditions have these physical characteristics, but don't consider themselves cisgender women. Some do. | ||
The ability to give birth creates a physical vulnerability that is exploited by [[patriarchy]]. Patriarchy began as a system based around the control of the part of the population who generally can give birth, by the part that generally can't. Women and people who can give birth are not completely synonymous groups. (There are infertile women, fertile trans men, and so on.) Still, these two groups have the most overlap. Patriarchy means that, as a group, men control women. They exert this control in every part of society, through the systems that are built into that society. Some of the many forms of how patriarchy controls, oppresses, and abuses women include: | The ability to give birth creates a physical vulnerability that is exploited by [[patriarchy]]. Patriarchy began as a system based around the control of the part of the population who generally can give birth, by the part that generally can't. Women and people who can give birth are not completely synonymous groups. (There are infertile women, fertile trans men, and so on.) Still, these two groups have the most overlap. Patriarchy means that, as a group, men control women. They exert this control in every part of society, through the systems that are built into that society. Some of the many forms of how patriarchy controls, oppresses, and abuses women include: | ||