I am S p a r t a c u s

[PermissionToSpeakSir]

I am a woman.

I was a girl.

I am an adult human female.

Something a man can never be.

I am a woman.

People refer to me has her and she.

Sometimes said with deep contempt and misogyny.

I am a woman.

Something a male will never be.

I have a vagina and uterus.

I menstruate and have given birth.

I am a mother.

Something a male will never be.

I have been insulted, assaulted, belittled, dismissed, held back, intimidated, stereotyped, terrorised, mocked, shamed, humiliated because I am a woman.

Something a male can never be.

I feel insulted, appropriated, offended, anxious, tense, depressed, hurt and under siege, when a male claims to be a woman or anyone says a male can be female.

It is not civil or respectful to treat me this way.

I am a woman.

I am Spartacus.

I find the dictionary a handy source of definitions.

Woman - an adult human female.
and
Female - of or denoting the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs, distinguished biologically by the production of gametes (ova) which can be fertilized by male gametes.

@pratchet wait a second... Wasn't Spartacus a man and slave who fought against slavery? And you talk of appropriation? Lol

Intetesting definition But I don't think most feminists would agree that a woman is defined by their biology only.

Ooooooops.

#ringsideseats

Sorry ghost not sure what you mean by 'man'

Did Ghosttess really just cut and paste the whole effign thing twice.

Where I work that gets a doughnut. And that is not a good thing.

@ErrolTheDragon. Wow, has that always been the case? Like before we knew what gametes were was that the definition?

No? So definitions change with time and scientific advances? Wow that's pretty amazing. So that definition won't always be the definition. Interesting to think about.

I don't think most feminists would agree that a woman is defined by their biology only.

Any individual woman is defined by many things, but her biology - being a female as per definition upthread - is a necessary condition.

@Pratchet the cognitive dissonance must be dizzying for you. Surely you. Who defined womanhood could work that one out.

I am spartacus.

I seriously doubt the scientific definition of 'female' is going to undergo significant change.
(Btw, the @ thing is used on MN to send mail to alert people not currently on the thread, just bolding the name is normal etiquette to avoid irritating people)

@ErrolTheDragon

Language and definition change all the time. We are in a period of change now as always.

I don't know what you mean by it, ghost. Do you?

I would suggest Pratchet is as undizzy as the rest of us GhostTess.
And none of us are likely to get dizzy on your gibberish, we have been flibbing off gibberish for some time now.

That is a bit of an in joke.

And part of the Spartacus fight is to not allow males to redefine what the word 'woman' means.

Make 'woman' meaningless, and you erode women's rights. Women say no to that.

Language and definition change all the time

Samuel Johnson (1755)
Wóman. [wifman, wimman, Saxon; whence we yet pronounce women in the plural, wimmen, Skinner.]

The female of the human race.

@ErrolTheDragon

The definition of marriage was changed fairly recently I don't see why female couldn't be or wouldn't be.

This thread is wonderful.

Especially the more recent posts.

I suspect that any woman who wasn't Spartacus yesterday, on reading this will suddenly discover that she is

Does anyone actually believe a woman is a gender role? Or do they just say it to piss us all off avoid the correct definition?

breathe and think of the lurkers.

it was wise women’s words in patient responses such as these which opened my eyesand helped me understand.

Ghost: let's talk about the new language. What's your new word for an adult human of the sex that produces motile gametes?

What is it with midnight, pubs shut and all the smart arses pop over to mumsnet cos they can't bore anyone to death at the bar anymore?

Anyone got any good cake recipes?!

I’ve typed out two long replies but tbh I can’t be fucked! We all know what’s going on here, it’s late, we all know the role biology plays in women’s oppression. To say otherwise is disingenuous.

@Picassospaintbrush

Sorry I'm not wherever you are. It's currently 9:45am here.

I think it is mostly just baiting women now.

Pratty

It's not about removing a definition but expanding one.

GhostTess
It's not very polite to @ people.

Have you read any of the thread yet?