Woman: Difference between revisions
m
Link to gender identity
(→Nonbinary women: Removed broken link to “stone”) |
imported>TXJ m (Link to gender identity) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{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 are not what makes someone a woman, because many women and girls can't or don't want 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]]). | 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 are not what makes someone a woman, because many women and girls can't or don't want 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> | ||