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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

What defines a woman?

104 replies

ThisPinkWyvern · 10/03/2025 11:18

What is the biological characteristic shared by all women that differentiates them from men?

OP posts:
lechiffre55 · 10/03/2025 12:46

VaddaABeetch · 10/03/2025 12:41

Head tilts, madams apples, curls, makeup, frills, skirts that go swirly, high heels.

You forgot girly pillow fights in pyjamas with cockettish head tilts.
And the inconvenient odour of neo-vaginas made from colon tissue.

Greyskybluesky · 10/03/2025 12:45

@ThisPinkWyvern you tell us and then we'll decide if we agree?

Come on, I'm dying to know.

VaddaABeetch · 10/03/2025 12:41

Head tilts, madams apples, curls, makeup, frills, skirts that go swirly, high heels.

SinnerBoy · 10/03/2025 12:37

I'll just point out again that a wyvern is a heraldic snake. Draw your own conclusions as the OP blunders around in their size 57 shoes.

ArabellaScott · 10/03/2025 12:36

How infrequently they feel the need to plonk down a sententious OP like this one?

allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld · 10/03/2025 12:34

women have a cervix

DialSquare · 10/03/2025 12:28

Sugar and spice and all things nice.

Jade520 · 10/03/2025 12:27

They don't have a Y chromosome. Do I win a prize?

terryleather · 10/03/2025 12:19

You know they answer but you just don't like it because it doesn't include males - never has and never will.

Garlicgarlicgarlic · 10/03/2025 12:17

Your other thread has over 800 replies, most of which are excellent, did you find it helpful?

AncientBallerina · 10/03/2025 12:15

Everyone knows exactly what a woman is when they want a surrogate mother. Funny that.

drspouse · 10/03/2025 12:13

NecessaryScene · 10/03/2025 11:37

I'm more interested in what is the fundamental characteristic of women that means that they're singled out for the sort of definition sophistry people like to play.

You could do all the same nonsense for anything else, so why are they specifically targeting women for the "definitions are hard" game? Big mystery.

In an attempt to answer the first one succinctly, plugging the "all women" gambit.

For all women, fertility treatment would not involve checking their sperm. Whereas for all men, it would.

It's the concept that they might be able to bear children.
That's why everyone gives them dolls.
That's why people expect them to care for non-baby humans as well.
And why people expect them to get themselves up attractively (depending on culture, this might mean "displaying how modes they are" or "displaying how sexually available they are") for men to want to impregnate them.

Greyskybluesky · 10/03/2025 12:11

eqpi4t2hbsnktd · 10/03/2025 12:09

It's the ability to put a damp towel on a hook / towel rack rather than on the bed or floor.
It's the only thing that separates us from men.

Oh come on now. Amusing replies like this aren't going to give the OP the "transphobic" screenshots they need for sharing elsewhere.

Kucinghitam · 10/03/2025 12:11

Oh, it's this OP.

eqpi4t2hbsnktd · 10/03/2025 12:09

It's the ability to put a damp towel on a hook / towel rack rather than on the bed or floor.
It's the only thing that separates us from men.

Greyskybluesky · 10/03/2025 12:07

I'm more interested in what is the fundamental characteristic of women that means that they're singled out for the sort of definition sophistry people like to play.
You could do all the same nonsense for anything else, so why are they specifically targeting women for the "definitions are hard" game? Big mystery.

Absolutely. It's always us.

theilltemperedqueenofspacetime · 10/03/2025 12:04

I suppose you think this is some kind of gotcha, but I'll play.

For a change, let's not do the gametes thing. I'm going to say....

...men are adult humans who have been through male puberty. This includes Caster Semenya and Imane Khelif.

Women are adult humans who have been through female puberty. This includes women with CAIS or Swyer Syndrome (with treatment).

Of course legal (registered) sex is another matter.

smallchange · 10/03/2025 12:03

Chuchoter · 10/03/2025 11:57

Adult human females have an XY chromosome. They are different from adult human males, in that adult males have an XX chromosome. This is the definition of a woman.

Other way round 😊

But yes, that Y chromosome is passed along the father to son path all the way back. Specifically, the SRY gene which can occasionally get attached elsewhere - if you have it, and it functions correctly, you will develop along the wolffian developmental pathway. If you don't have it, then it's the mullerian developmental pathway for you.

However, and as the op well knows (threads passim), this has the grand sum of fuck all to do with transwomen who are perfectly average biological men.

TooBigForMyBoots · 10/03/2025 11:59

The dictionary. Here you go @ThisPinkWyvern.

What defines a woman?
BaronessEllarawrosaurus · 10/03/2025 11:59

Chuchoter · 10/03/2025 11:57

Adult human females have an XY chromosome. They are different from adult human males, in that adult males have an XX chromosome. This is the definition of a woman.

Umm think you got that the wrong way round.

Chuchoter · 10/03/2025 11:57

Adult human females have an XY chromosome. They are different from adult human males, in that adult males have an XX chromosome. This is the definition of a woman.

Rightsraptor · 10/03/2025 11:51

Why do you think there is one characteristic that separates females from males?

AnSolas · 10/03/2025 11:48

Clownfish
Coral
Fungi
Mushroom
Intersex
DSD
Women are people too.

Being girls who survived into adulthood

EmpressaurusKitty · 10/03/2025 11:41

ThisPinkWyvern · 10/03/2025 11:18

What is the biological characteristic shared by all women that differentiates them from men?

Why are you asking?

BettyBooper · 10/03/2025 11:41

What is the biological characteristic shared by all transwomen that differentiates them from men?