I think the overarching definition needs to go a bit abstract and fuzzy. Like, a woman is a role that society defines and associates with certain acts, activities,. expectations and looks, blah blah blah. This is the approach some medicine takes when defining drug abuse. What’s drug abuse? According to a nursing textbook it’s what society defines it to be.
Yep, it’s a very complicated topic because gender roles and expectations change depending on time and place. What “society” considers a “woman” differs from place to place and person to person. Even the very prominent “adult female human” definition isn’t sufficient, because all three of those words are arguable to certain degrees.
Personally, I think the best definition is “a woman is a person who identifies as a woman.” It perfectly includes every single person who I consider a woman, and excludes every single person who I don’t consider a woman, and it doesn’t disagree with anyone’s interpretation of their own identity.
I think the overarching definition needs to go a bit abstract and fuzzy. Like, a woman is a role that society defines and associates with certain acts, activities,. expectations and looks, blah blah blah. This is the approach some medicine takes when defining drug abuse. What’s drug abuse? According to a nursing textbook it’s what society defines it to be.
Yep, it’s a very complicated topic because gender roles and expectations change depending on time and place. What “society” considers a “woman” differs from place to place and person to person. Even the very prominent “adult female human” definition isn’t sufficient, because all three of those words are arguable to certain degrees.
Personally, I think the best definition is “a woman is a person who identifies as a woman.” It perfectly includes every single person who I consider a woman, and excludes every single person who I don’t consider a woman, and it doesn’t disagree with anyone’s interpretation of their own identity.