Do you use the term "woman" as part of your identity?
i do.
What does it mean to you to use/not use the term "woman?"
Well, it means a continuity with my mother and with the women who i admire. On a very deep level, i have grown into myself by reading about and observing and talking to other women. i have learned to love myself through my admiration and love for other women, many of whom died before i was born. Being a woman is not just my gender. It's my history. i wouldn't be who i am if i hadn't read certain women writers or heard stories about women in history. Brave women, sexual women, smart women. i can't imagine the loss i would feel if i didn't claim woman.
Does tension/discomfort exist for you in using the term "woman" together with butch, femme, queer, or any of your other identity definers? If so, why?
No. i don't use it in combination with other IDs. i am a woman first.
If you do not use the term "woman" how did you come to the decision not to?
How is "woman" different from "female" (and I don't mean in the academic sense, but in the lived experience sense).
Female is just a box on forms.
What does "woman" mean?
i have never had children, so it doesn't mean that to me. It is about my sexuality. i feel like a woman when i have sex. If i don't, i don't have sex with that person anymore.
It's about my body and the way i live in it. Having a period. Having some kinds of strengths and not others.
It's about beauty and comfort and warmth. i associate woman with so many good things. Grace above all. Not that these are exclusive to women, or that any woman without these characteristics is less than women. That's just what woman means to me.
What does "woman" not mean?
i am not sure.
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