What is a woman?

This question is regularly asked by TERFs and anyone else using trans people as a target.

It's the sort of question that need not be answered because doing so puts you in the position of accepting the questioner's game.

If you include trans women in your answer, you have objections to face on the definition, and if you don't you have objections to face on trans rights. In other words, you're damned one way, and damned the other. It's the classic double bind that nasty people of all kinds like to ask so as to set their agenda on an issue. You could answer, "Don't you know?" or "Not what you think!" Or just don't engage.

It's similar to the moral racketeering that I pointed out when bathroom bills were an issue (see my post The bathroom bill racket).

Let's look at definitions as a subject.

If I asked you what metal is, what would your answer be?

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the (dull) definition is: "any of a class of substances characterized by high electrical and thermal conductivity as well as by malleability, ductility, and high reflectivity of light. Approximately three-quarters of all known chemical elements are metals...."

But if you are an astronomer, you are referring to any elements heavier than Hydrogen and Helium. Definitely not the same as the encyclopaedia's definition.

And what if you are a music fan ...? (Frankly, are metal fans going to agree on a definition? Watch the fight start!)

And if I ask you what a fish is, what would you say.

Well, if you're a fishmonger, you'd doubtless point to your display and say, "That lot is". OK, in that case, I'll have a pound of mussels.

But if you are a marine biologist, you will tear your hair trying to define a fish. According to recent academic discussions, fish can only be a convenience term as it does not correspond to a defined or definable group of organisms (a taxon).

And if you're in prison? You'll have been a fish to start with. So will the officers.

We could do this for many words: sun, foot, fruit, car, music, art (!)...

So, on this basis, what is a woman? 

If you're a TERF, you have your rigid definition. And if you are a TERF ally, say a nice right-wing male politician, you'll have a similar one to theirs when you feel like trans bashing, although, unlike the TERF, you are really referring to a person who raises your kids, cooks your dinner, cleans up after you and doesn't ask questions.

A biologist defines sex according to the size of gametes (sex cells): big gametes = female; small gametes = male. Therefore a female Homo sapiens is a woman. But some intersex people won't fit this definition, yet they are members of the species. And Neanderthal females are often referred to as women by palaeontologists. So we're into the fish problem again.

A woman, just like everything else, is definable essentially how you wish from your perspective.  

I am trans. I am a trans woman. I am a woman. 

You're a TERF, you're (likely) a woman, you exclude me. Big deal.

Whether that is the same as how government legislation defines it, or someone else perceives it, is irrelevant. The fact that governments can define things by legislation, and refine the definition or alter it, shows its flexibility. I wish to be treated decently, treated as a woman, and not unfairly discriminated against over healthcare, working rights or other matters. If you won't treat me well, then you're a jerk. But you haven't defined a woman in any way acceptable to all others.

It's not a meaningful question with a definable answer. Don't play the game, and don't answer directly. For legal and administrative purposes, trans women should be women. That's what we want.

Fish? Woman?

Image by pikisuperstar on Freepik

Away

I've stayed put in my home since 1 June and it's been a hot summer and I've had little desire to move. But now that autumn is approaching I'll be going away more. 

I'm currently in Milan, it's not quite fashion week, but I'm sure there'll be something elegant to be seen...

Sue x