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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

There has to be a word...

40 replies

BlueRaincoat1 · 08/03/2020 10:01

...for biologically female people, i.e. people who are of the sex class which produces large gametes, generally have xx chromosomes, and have common biological traits of having a vulva/ vagina and associated other biological characteristics.

There has to be language which easily allows for people with these characteristics to be grouped together. Obviously this word has (and still is) women /girls, but in expanding the meaning of these words to include people without these characteristics the words become meaningless as the biological category.

Do people who want to expand the meaning of the word woman think it is entirely unimportant that there be a word which easily allows people who have these characteristics to be easily classed as a group?

OP posts:
Firelink · 08/03/2020 17:48

Man, Ifeel like a woman...

NotTerfNorCis · 08/03/2020 17:30

I see a certain TRA not best known for honesty has screenshotted me on Twitter.

To the TRA - you know 'cis' doesn't cover all adult biological females. It doesn't cover transmen and non-binary people. So what is the TRA word for adult human female?

We already know the answer. Genderism doesn't have a word for adult human female.

BlueRaincoat1 · 08/03/2020 13:11

Thats interesting @testing987654321

@EmpressAlexandra Where I am struggling is with the 'they' you refer to. I don't believe that (For example) Lisa Nandy, or Rebecca long-bailey, or many other women who include some males in the definition of woman want to see women oppressed. I wish these people would clearly explain, rather than just saying kindness and inclusivity is important, rather than saying 'respectful discussions's should take place, I wish they would explain if they think that being able to group and identify women by their sex is important, and what word should be used for that.

OP posts:
DickKerrLadies · 08/03/2020 13:04

I was going to comment but I think I'll wait for one of the people who believe in gender identity to answer it.

I'm sure I won't be waiting long.

Do you think I've got time to make a brew?

NotTerfNorCis · 08/03/2020 12:12

I started a thread on this a couple of months ago.

The conclusion was that TRAs have no word for adult human female.

'Cis' doesn't cover women who identify as male or 'non-binary'.

'Afab' isn't really a word, and could technically include males raised as girls.

'Woman', to TRAs, includes males.

Genderists are erasing the concept of biological females by refusing to name it.

We feminists need to reclaim the word 'woman' from TRAs.

EmpressAlexandra · 08/03/2020 11:53

They know perfectly well it’s important. That’s why they are trying to take it away. Because without a word for that class of people (women) it gets much easier to exploit and oppress us and behave in ways that are invasive.

Dances · 08/03/2020 11:31

Non transwoman of course!

testing987654321 · 08/03/2020 11:17

The book Invisible Women shows what has happened when the words man and he was used to represent men and women, boys and girls.

Although people said that, our brains are not sophisticated enough to override the constant repetition of he and him. So everything was designed and tested for men.

We just need to keep insisting the word woman means woman and being one is a biological fact, not a choice.

There's no way we can give up the word woman and then expect any other word to take its place and not be changed to include men immediately.

BlueRaincoat1 · 08/03/2020 10:47

All evidence to date suggests these people think it is completelyunimportantwomen have a word to accurately describe ourselves as a sex class. Go figure.

See this is how it looks to me too. I do not understand how anyone with any sense at all thinks this can be sensible however . There are words for everything. Everything. And it is so utterly obvious that a word must exist for people with the above characteristics that it beggars belief that it even needs saying.

On a purely linguistic level it is incredible and infuriating to see words corrupted in this way.

Bit what is obviously more important is the consequences of this. Control language and you control the law. You will ultimately control thought at you remove the tools for people to critically think outside of the words provided. It sounds so dramatic and ridiculous, but when one sees what is literally already happening in women's sports, and girls changing rooms, it is clear that (as the hash tag says) this is not a drill.

OP posts:
OnlyTheLangoftheTitBerg · 08/03/2020 10:24

pope How utterly toadstoolphobic of you. Toadstool rights are fungus rights!

GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman · 08/03/2020 10:24

I recently had to explain to a friend of mine that the word 'woman' has been captured by people who apply to anyone who feels like a woman so when discussing actual, yunno, women, you have to qualify it with 'natal'.

It makes my brain explode. We had a perfectly good word and some activists took it away from us. And now they try using 'wom*n'.

Thy cn fck ff.

popehilarious · 08/03/2020 10:17

People are waking up to the fact that language shouldn't be exclusive in any way. Every word should refer to every thing that exists, to avoid anything being left out.

If you understood the words I used in this post, you are an exclusionary bigot. I meant each word to refer to patio grass colourless ideas fox trap qualia man girl baby mushrooms

FamilyOfAliens · 08/03/2020 10:14

There is a word.

We just have to constantly push back against people who use it wrongly.

DublinCrone · 08/03/2020 10:10

Do people who want to expand the meaning of the word woman think it is entirely unimportant that there be a word which easily allows people who have these characteristics to be easily classed as a group?

All evidence to date suggests these people think it is completely unimportant women have a word to accurately describe ourselves as a sex class. Go figure.

ErrolTheDragon · 08/03/2020 10:09

Some think it's unimportant; some think it's actually a bad thing to allow such a useful term to exist. The former is probably the larger group but they give cover to the latter.