What does living as a woman actually mean?

Practically I think it means presenting yourself with the basic language markers we use for women. So publicly using a name that is female, forms of address like Miss or Mrs, and female associated pronouns. Usually also more feminine clothing etc.

Of course if you dig down into this at all these are very superficial things. They are the accidents of womanhood, not the essence of it. They are, though, I suppose, the kinds of things you'd do if you were disguising yourself as a woman to escape the draft, or some other reason.

Good quality research using a large sample of natal women would reveal the following facts about what living as a woman entails:

-Earning less than men
-Being responsible for how everyone around you feels
-Being kind
-carrying the mental load of how the house is run (even if the man in the house is really ‘helpful’)
-caring for sick children and relatives
-remembering birthdays and Christmas

etc etc etc

Funny that these things are never claimed as reasons why a man is really a woman.

I must be a man then- fleece and jeans, sensible shoes, very short hair, no make up and I love DIY and fixing things…

Got a nasty feeling it will end up meaning using women’s spaces as a precursor to getting a GRC - not a bug, a feature

There is an absolute hierarchy to living ‘as a woman’.

1. Natal woman - bottom of the pile. No one cares when they speak about the reality of a myriad of different lives lived.
2. Man in a long wig, dress, stockings that he ‘oh whoops matron’ flashes whilst speaking in a high pitched voice— top of the pile.

That is probably what the criteria will consist of.

I asked my DH this in a recent discussion. His response was, firstly, "dressing as a woman." I said, what, you mean like this? as I sat there in a fairly unisex jumper and jeans. I also said, I don't "live like a woman," I am a woman. That's it.

In England & Wales it has traditionally meant gas bills in the new name and gender.

In Scotland it will apparently mean pronouns and presentation. That will go down well.

Yes, pretending should be referenced much more in these policies.

When, in my head, I substitute "pretend to be" for "identify as" or "live as", it always seems to make the meaning clearer.

Living as a woman... sounds like what Method actors do when they are preparing for a part.

Can I apply to be a woman? I have boobs and tubes, eggs and legs? Does that allow me to be a woman or will I get caught out when I wear trousers?

So women don’t “live as women”...

I've been a woman for a long time and I've never hear the phrase "living as a woman" applied to me or any other woman.

No need, you see. We just are.

Being mocked for being unhappy about being placed in a subordinate position compared to men in yet another system, like: World of Warcraft has fallen! www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4702882-world-of-warcraft-has-fallen?msgid=122450242#122450242

Yes, pretending should be referenced much more in these policies.

So women don’t “live as women”...

It means "pretending to be a woman". Women have no need to do it.

This ideology only stands if gender stereotypes persist. 'Living as a woman' means fuck all in reality but ,doubtless ,some offensive stereotype will be held up as evidence of womanly living.

Living as a woman for men is switching to using women's toilets.

It's pathetic.

According to a large tranche of useless MN husbands, being a woman is doing everything for family apart from when man puts the bins out "for you"

Being "calm and respectful" is a definition I saw.

Well, that's a lot of trans-identifying males disqualified then, isn't it?!

Such a load of utter baloney. Coming at this from the other perspective, what does it mean to live as a man? Freddy McConnell got a GRC on 11th April 2017, and was artificially inseminated on 21st April 2017. How many natal males do we think celebrate their masculinity by heading off to the fertility clinic to see if they can gestate a baby? Then of course Freddy had the utter unmitigated gall to try to get the law changed so Freddy would be recorded as the baby's father, not mother. Fortunately that failed.

Fucking this.

What an absolute SHIT show.

I was also going to say it's living in a human body with xx chromosomes. No other definition required.

I hear you

Living as a woman...

Well, it means living with XX chromosomes, having gone through female puberty, having a vagina, not having a penis

It's simple isn't it?

Do you get many farmers confused about what is a cow, and what a bull? How can they identify this difference in other species? How can you tell a bitch from a dog?

Why are we forced to be deliberately obtuse on this issue?

We all KNOW what a woman is