To ask what being female means to you?

[Toorahtoorahaye]

Thought mumsnet might be a good place to ask as it’s mostly populated by women. I’ve always thought of being female simply as being the sex that the conceives, carries and gives birth etc. Seen this thread on twitter and the OP seems to be being vastly outnumbered in what i thought was a simple view of what “female” is. So wondered what it means to people here, how you would define “female” mobile.twitter.com/DeborahJaneOrr/status/1109031908162396161

Being female to me is about my biology - the chromosomes and sexual / reproductive organs that differentiate me from a human male. I don't consider anything else - my thoughts, feelings, behaviours etc to be either male or female.

Right now, bloody hot flushes. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Any women-wannabees want to have that little joy? I'll happily hand it over.

To me being female means having restrictions, even in this day and age. A big chunk of it is caused by having children. Men seem to go around doing what they like without time limits!

Being born with a vagina
Periods
Having breasts
Having the organs to conceive & give birth. Whether they work properly or not is another matter. Mine are having some troubles

I never really thought about having to be aware of surroundings etc as a fundamental part of what it means to be a woman. We all have to do that, Inc other vulnerable people.

To me being female means having restrictions, even in this day and age. A big chunk of it is caused by having children. Men seem to go around doing what they like without time limits!

If a man doesn't take as much responsibility as you do, get rid of him. I would never accept a partner 'going around doing what he liked' whilst I felt I was restricted due to having children together. A good man, partner or father wouldn't do this but a man tries to, expect more.

Having to analyze and explain what it means to be female to people who think their nebulous feelings trump my entire life experience.

During most of my childbearing /sexually active years it was mostly about pregnancy - either fearing an unwanted pregnancy, desperately wanting to be pregnant, or actually being pregnant (3 times). Secondly was my periods. Third, feeling like a second class citizen at times.
Now I'm menopausal I don't think about being female so much, other than being aware that I'm much smaller than most men, therefore at risk physically if any of them decide to get nasty with me, though to be fair I've never been a victim of male violence. It's still at the back of my mind though.

Hormones, periods, giving birth breastfeeding, all things that can be painful and annoying but are amazing if you think about it, and i would never want to be a man.

@thedisorganisedmum I completely agree!

Biologically- being an adult human animal of the class that produces eggs.

Psychologically, or spiritually, or mentally, or however you want to describe non biologically- being part of a long line of women stretching back to the dawn of time who have faced oppression and suffered solely because of their womanhood. And who have lived, and died and been victorious in the face of that oppression.

I like this but most folk on twitter on that thread seemed to disagree

Most folk on twitter on that thread seem to have a very sight grasp on reality. Although they're good at ugly memes.

Sleeping - completely agree. Unfortunately, I missed the boat there! Young and naïve. So now I often feel the need to stop other women making the same mistakes.

Sleeping - completely agree. Unfortunately, I missed the boat there! Young and naïve. So now I often feel the need to stop other women making the same mistakes

Its never to late to get rid of a man with these attitudes and behaviours, although even if you do, I know a lot of the childcare often still falls to mum with men like that. Absolutely agree with educating our young girls (and boys) to expect equality in relationships. My daughter is only 10 but I think she's going to set a very high bar as to what she will expect and accept from anyone. We're quite proud of that, although she's a little scary sometimes. 😂