What is a woman? WHY do you ask?
What is a woman? We keep hearing this bizarre question come up. Humans have been around for thousands of years and we’ve always known what a man and woman are. Why all of a sudden are we asking what a woman is now? What else have we forgotten? What is a man, what is a White person or a Black person? What’s a Hispanic person? I am one and honestly that’s kind of a tricky question-yet there’s a definition for it, that is not in question!
What’s the definition of a human, a car, a plane, an animal? Have we forgotten these too? No, it would seem the only concept we oddly are suddenly ignorant of is 50% of the world’s population. Ask the question of what a woman is and suddenly you’re plunged into an endless circular debate ranging from ‘anyone who thinks so’ to a set of regressive stereotypes, to holes for penises (yes, some actually believe this!). If you state the obvious which is the definition we have known for thousands of years one who is born with a female reproductive framework, an adult human female, suddenly any rare exception that has ever happened negates every basic rule.
Are we now expected to believe that any exceptions negate the rules? That any sort of deviation from the official definition however small, invalidates the entire definition? So unless any word or concept can be 100% defined with zero exceptions the concept or definition is not accurate and even perhaps fluid, able to accommodate any persons subjective opinions?
What’s a human being? According to Miriam Webster it’s ‘a bipedal primate mammal (Homo sapiens)’. Uh oh, I guess people who can’t walk aren’t human! Wonder if they know that! And if they’re not human beings, then what are they? Do we need to have another special definition that includes people who can’t walk? And yet all of us know what a human being is!
The reality is we can go round and round with the definition of absolutely anything! If we want to say exceptions negate rules then we have definitions for nothing! And then language becomes meaningless. Imagine living in the world where all the innocuous universal words you know to describe basic things like man, woman, cat, dog no longer have coherent meaning. And instead have circular nonsensical meaning that change with the wind.
I’ve been told by left-leaning people that language is subjective and should change with society. But how frequently should it change? Who gets to decide when it changes & it’s new purpose? Should men get to make a new definition for women? Where is the new definition for men? What else needs a new definition? And most importantly WHY? Why must we change the definition of an adult human female (woman)?
When will we hit the bottom of this attack on basic language? And maybe most importantly how will changing the most basic universal words like women and even mother benefit our society? Or more likely how will it harm our society? Would it alienate those for whom English is not a first language? Or those who are not highly educated & privileged? Are all these confusing terms like ‘menstruator’, or ‘vulva owner’ going to leave certain people out of groups or add certain people in? What will this confusing change in language mean for us all? And who’s the one who benefits from this?
As we navigate this new post covid world and God willing a return to normal we need to start asking ourselves seriously these questions. What kind of world do we wanna live in? The one in which material reality, science, and logic reign supreme or one in which subjective feelings and personal thoughts determine even the most basic of concepts?
How can the US & greater Western world continue to maintain any type of supremacy when we can’t even decide what a man or woman is?
So the next time you hear someone ask ‘what is a woman’ rather than get into a nonsensical circular debate about biology and how any the super rare exceptions negate what we know to be common sense and universal- instead response with ‘why is THAT even a question’?