

New women on the block


womenWhat is a woman?

According to definitions: an adult female, and a girl, a female child.

But now we need to look at the definition of female.

Female: of or relating to the sex that can produce young: characteristic of girls or women.

The first definition is obviously based on an xx chromosome pair and seems to require the ability to produce eggs and produce young. If this is true then sterile women (whether at birth or through surgery) are not women.

That does seem strange.

The second definition is circular: to be a woman is to be female and to be female is to be a woman. Notice there is no mention of gender, but let’s see where it fits into being a woman.

Gender: the state of female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).

We can deduce then that by traditional gender is determined by the chromosomal makeup of a particular woman. We know this to be true, because one look to determine there is a vagina and, “It’s a girl!”

This simplistic determination at the time of birth leaves my inner sense of that I am female in limbo. My chromosomes don’t make me female, and certainly my culture and society don’t encourage my being a female with xy chromosomes.

But there it is; I am female.

What and where does this basic knowledge that I am a female come from?

Enter new research that shows that gender (in my case female gender) has a biological source. Biology is not the sole determinant but heavily contributes to my self-identity of female.


Let’s return to the notion that my gender “female” (influenced by the brain)  desires, for expression in feminine ways.

My personal self is female and I express my femaleness in feminine ways that are personal to me. Others can accept or deny my legitimacy but do not have the right to take away my self-identity and expression according to societal norms.

There are three general types of naysayers who would deny me the right to define and express myself as female.

Those who deny me my femaleness and feminine expression

There are those who deny me my femaleness and feminine gender expression by denying gender exists within any person.

They contend that gender only exists because society creates it.

The underlying assumption is that cultural contexts are not real, and therefore gender expression is not real.

In their world, gender is not real, thus my femininity is not real and cannot exist for me in a personal way.

If others choose to believe in a societal reality without gender that is their privilege. If they want to deny the “constructed” world I – and most of us – live in, that is their privilege.

It is not their privilege to deny that I am female.

The female brain deniers

These folks come in a variety of forms but all deny the validity of controlled scientific studies and findings. Fine. Their choice.

I choose to accept science.

I find my mind (brain if you will) has more in common with women I know than with men I know. Both men and women who know me agree. I think like a woman.

Ah, say the deniers, “You have been socialized to think that. It is just not true.”

Strange; I grew up socialized as male and was never comfortable with it. Strange;  many around me saw me as feminine and not masculine.

My world has female and male brains. My world has trust in controlled scientific research.

My world lets others believe what they will, but they do not have the right to enforce their beliefs on me.

Lastly, we have the xx chromosome essentialists

They contend that only people with xx chromosomes can be women. Might that also go hand in hand with  women must have a range of hormonal makeup that includes estrogen and progesterone?

I make that grade.

My hormonal makeup makes me woman/feminine.

The takeaway.

Others, by denying my ability to be a woman, deny my existence.

They deconstruct, deny, and define me into oblivion.

There are new biological and hormonal constructs for being a women and feminine. I belong to this group, as do many others.

Every individual has the personal right to examine their inner selves, determine their femaleness or maleness and live in their authentic gender.

The nay sayers are not going to define this old lady out of existence and make her invisible.

There are new women on the block. Please stop trying to deny our existence.

Categories: General
Renate Hartman

2 Responses

  1. Emily says:

    You may be right about biology, but if so why obfuscate your argument by using non-biological term such as “gender”? Sex is the biological term.

  2. Renate Hartman says:

    Over recent weeks, we have had some very long comments that deal with that deal with gender having no connection to biology, but rather it is only a social construct.
    Emily’s comment (above) sums up this position.
    By definition, a sociological one, gender cannot be associated with biology.
    Therefore I am confusing the general public when I talk about gender as biological.
    I am in good company.
    The United Nations World Health Organization ties gender to the mental and brain. As does the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)
    Members of these organizations influence psychiatrists, social workers, the medical profession, psychologists, and many other professionals.
    General news reports, when discussing gender, tie it to both nature (biology) and nurture (culture). And the annual Transgender Health Conference in Philadelphia has most conversations tying the two together. They all discuss gender dysphoria that has to do with biological mismatches of brain and chromosomes. The discussion is under the rubric of gender.
    Transgender authors such as Boylan and Sorono, through personal experience, “know” that gender comes from both nature and nurture.
    All of these groups disassociate sex from gender: both internal gender formation and external gender presentation
    So, I stand by my axiom that gender covers both nature and nurture.
    And I stand by my axiom that gender and sex are separate.
    Emily may stand by her axiom that gender is only nurture, and that sex is the biological extension in the body.
    Let’s put our respective cases out to the “general public”, whoever they might be, and let individuals review the two positions and decide which approach is confusing.