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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:
NPET · 10/03/2025 14:03

BaronessEllarawrosaurus · 10/03/2025 11:59

Umm think you got that the wrong way round.

Hope so or my thoughts need to be radically altered!

RapidOnsetGenderCritic · 10/03/2025 14:04

RapidOnsetGenderCritic · 10/03/2025 13:55

So I'm a woman? I don't think you've got that quite right. Few women would want me in women's spaces, and I wouldn't want to push into those spaces, or even to be invited in.

Apologies to all for my sense of humour bypass.

MarieDeGournay · 10/03/2025 14:10

Although I get the impression that the OP probably knows the answer and is just fishing for interesting replies, I'm going to rise to the bait by saying that I think the simplest biological explanation is best - xx/xy chromosomes.

Keeping it simple means that girls and women can be as wonderfully complex and varied as we are in appearance, opinions, abilities, ethnicities, capabilities, jobs, clothing, interests, sexualities, etc., and still be human females.

And boys and men, despite their appearance, opinions, abilities, ethnicities, capabilities, jobs, clothing, interests, sexualities, etc., will always be human males.

Works for me!Smile

Rightsraptor · 10/03/2025 14:14

OP gone MIA, then. Probably got shot down.

coldcallerbaiter · 10/03/2025 14:17

eqpi4t2hbsnktd · 10/03/2025 13:53

Do you remember that ad where the little kid wants to be a tomato?

Thats going too far! A tomato is maybe 50% the same dna as me. But a female tiger would be the same bio sex and maybe 95% similar dna. So actually a female tiger is comparatively close to me, more so than a man is to a woman. But how would I know, I’m just a woman, so how would I know what a woman is? I cannot be expected to grasp this stuff.

We should answer all these questions with’but what about tomatoes’?

Myalternate · 10/03/2025 14:18

Biological sex is separate from gender identity.

No Female requires screening for prostrate cancer.
No Male requires screening for cervical cancer.
Transgender or gender diverse individuals would be screened for sex-specific medical conditions.

Datun · 10/03/2025 14:26

There are, as I understand it, 6,500 genetic differences between men and women, so this could take a while...

ZeldaFighter · 10/03/2025 14:28

Women are the ones who aren't allowed to have anything of their own.

WandaSiri · 10/03/2025 14:30

coldcallerbaiter · 10/03/2025 14:17

Thats going too far! A tomato is maybe 50% the same dna as me. But a female tiger would be the same bio sex and maybe 95% similar dna. So actually a female tiger is comparatively close to me, more so than a man is to a woman. But how would I know, I’m just a woman, so how would I know what a woman is? I cannot be expected to grasp this stuff.

We should answer all these questions with’but what about tomatoes’?

Edited

Ricky Gervais does/did a monologue about how people are more genetically similar to chimpanzees than men are to women. 98.8% shared genome for humans/chimps, 98.2% for men/women - which is about the same percentage as humans & pig share!

And for some reason it makes me happy that we share a lot more of our genome with cats of all kinds than dogs. (I wouldn't dare admit to that on Dog Mumsnet, obv.)

WandaSiri · 10/03/2025 14:31

Same genes, but expressed differently, too.

flyingbuttress43 · 10/03/2025 14:40

Sorry OP: got more interesting stuff to do, like watching paint dry.

AnSolas · 10/03/2025 14:49

@Grammarnut
So I did and frogs!
how could I forget the frogs!!🦧

FictionalCharacter · 10/03/2025 15:06

Indeed. And we should never have played along. It was always the wrong question. It's led to all kinds of incorrect nonsense about DSDs being spouted, and all sorts of other irrelevant stuff about social roles.

The issue has always been transwomen claiming to be women and wanting to be included in everything that is reserved for women.

The question should have been "what is a transwoman", and why should they be included in the category "women". We should look at the characteristics of women that TW do not have:

Female reproductive system (whether or not a woman is fertile)
Female gametes
Female hormones
Female anatomy and physiology (skeleton, heart, lungs, blood, voice box, skin, hair pattern, muscles etc)
Female genotype (and yes, that does include atypical ones)

They do not have a single one of these features that make us female. So what do they have that makes them female? Saying "cos I say so" has never been enough to claim you're anything, despite what Stonewall say.

If more people had pointed this out instead of getting drawn into rubbish about whether infertile women or postmenopausal women are really women, it would have put the focus back on the male-bodied people claiming they're women. It would also have made more people realise that the vast majority of TW don't have surgery and still have male reproductive organs. A lot of people still think TW have had a "sex change" and hormones, which has given them female anatomy.
Wanting male attention, liking how you look in a dress and being sexually submissive don't make you female.

FictionalCharacter · 10/03/2025 15:07

Sorry, meant to quote a PP there

BiologicalRobot · 10/03/2025 15:14

Datun · 10/03/2025 14:26

There are, as I understand it, 6,500 genetic differences between men and women, so this could take a while...

That's almost the same amount as genders isn't it? 🤔

WarriorN · 10/03/2025 15:46

🤣👏

Datun · 10/03/2025 16:00

BiologicalRobot · 10/03/2025 15:14

That's almost the same amount as genders isn't it? 🤔

Now that's what I call a coincidence! 😁

SinnerBoy · 10/03/2025 16:00

I think the OP has linked this thread to Reddit and is currently affecting a fit of the vapours, whilst performatively wailing,

Twaaaansfobya!

RedToothBrush · 10/03/2025 16:04

ThisPinkWyvern · 10/03/2025 11:18

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

Sigh.

Well let's be honest it ain't high heels and a preference for fake boobs now is it?

Do you remember the lesson at school where there were kids blowing up condoms? And the explanation of 'this is how we make babies'. Well it's like that but some women have the same biological system as those who have babies, but it's faulty but they still live with the social expectation that women give birth.

The 'women' who have a cock and balls and don't live with social expectation that they will give birth are men regardless of what they say. They also won't be the ones expected to care for elderly relatives.

There's also DNA. I do family history and DNA is a good way of being able to identify which ones are the men and which ones are the women. Historically we know which royals are men and which are women from who gave birth too.

WarriorN · 10/03/2025 16:04

Doesn't surprise me

WarriorN · 10/03/2025 16:04

Re Reddit link

<waves>

RedToothBrush · 10/03/2025 16:05

BiologicalRobot · 10/03/2025 15:14

That's almost the same amount as genders isn't it? 🤔

There was a legal ruling on a non binary case the other week which ruled that legally in the UK there are only two genders not the 65million quoted.

Which is odd given what bollocks they are teaching in schools.

AnSolas · 10/03/2025 17:35

Why SinnerBoy that just can not be true, a link on Reddit ! 🐒

I am shocked ! 🙄

duc748 · 10/03/2025 17:43

This is the kind of thread where I always go "See all posts by OP".

And yeah. Thought so.

emeg · 10/03/2025 18:18

The biological characteristic shared by all women that differentiates them from men is that they're female.

No man is female; all women are.

Conversely: all men are male; no woman is.

Easy? Yes, easy.

Worth getting your knickers in a twist about? No. Whether you're a man or a woman. (Yes, some men wear knickers.)

(Wearing knickers or Y-fronts, not a biological differentiating characteristic. Unlike being male or female.).

Got it now, OP? It really is as simple as that.

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