WHAT IS A WOMAN?
What is a woman? This question is cropping up in my social feeds a lot at the moment. You would think the answer is obvious.
You be You
I am happy that people can love who they want, marry who they want. I want people to be comfortable in their own skin, be happy with who they are. If someone wants me to call them ‘they’ rather than she, I can work with that. If a woman wants to be a man and dress/behave like a man, I can work with that too. You be you.
I suppose the question becomes, as with most things, how do I feel when what you want gets in my space? In my backyard? As humans, basically animals in territorial feels, we accept most things even if it takes some getting used to, we are okay with the issue overall, it’s when it gets personal that we begin to be concerned.
Woman, Gender, Private Spaces, Human Rights (whose rights though)
When my daughter said that the toilets at her wedding venue were gender neutral. I was fine with that. Public toilets make me uneasy at the best of times, it’s a very personal space however being 60 I realise that someone getting in my space in an invasive way, is less likely (and I would be far more capable to handle a situation). Then I considered how my husband and other males would feel about it. There were separate cubicles I assume with urinals. How would he feel being in the loo with females strolling in and out.
We are of a different era, men and women have had their own spaces and generally this has been respected. How would my 92 year old mother feel? How would a younger girl feel?
I am ‘Woman’
Nurses in the UK, athletes around the world, have men identifying as female, in their spaces, men in their changing rooms as they undress, male athletes competing against female, with physiques clearly male. Males identifying as female and demanding access to our previously protected spaces. All they need to say is “I am a woman” Thus, my question. What is a woman to you?
Think about this, ask others what they think. Consider the implications. What happens to ‘women’ if everyone can be one. Is the word even necessary anymore? Is this misogynistic when men have held sway within ‘his’tory, are the generic term in publications that covers all humans still? When a space created for women to talk women stuff and someone who says they are a ‘woman’ demands entry.
Yes, women have been demanding. We demanded the right to vote, the right for equal pay (still not there), the right to be given access to mens patriarchal clubs etc. However, we have not demanded that we are a man and you MUST acknowledge us as such. Surely, you would laugh at us, be scathing, of course we are not ‘men’ Sure, we can compete in athletics against them, come into their changing rooms and watch them shower. The sexes are physically different (newsflash), and men do not hold the fear of women that women have of men, have had of men since puberty.
Woman, Matriarchy, Female, XX
Those that know me, know that I am an ardent feminist, a womanist, an equalist. I don’t want there to be any difference in our rights to a job, a role, pay, attitude, expectation. Be who you want but do I want everyone to say that they are a ‘woman’? What do you think? Happy if you dm me.
Suffrage was created for voting rights which Australia achieved for white women in 1902. Women demanded the right to vote. This has increased over the years, evolving. Most will think that we have turned a corner with societal expectation. That we have achieved what we wanted. It is still an ongoing battle. Sometimes I feel like it’s a war where the rules have changed mid point. We thought we were fighting one thing and now we are fighting another. Like our opponent, the patriarchy, has found a new weapon, a new way to disempower women.
Will this “I am a woman” even though I have been brought up, physically developed as a man (chromosome XY), imbibed all the “boys will be boys”, male privilege, but now I want to identify as female (chromosome XX), be an ‘endgame’ for women?
Further Reading
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lia_Thomas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women-only_space
An opinion piece, views are mine, genuinely curious about the role of women, our place (her place in herstory).
