Do you use the term "woman" as part of your identity?
I identify as a woman
What does it mean to you to use/not use the term "woman?"
Not using the term woman to describe myself means that I would neglect a part of my identity (but got to remind people that identity is not only defined by gender... my gender is only a part of who I am)
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?
I don't feel any discomfort since I don't use butch, femme or queer to define myself. I prefer to use the word homosexual or lesbian when it comes to my orientation. I also don't see any dichotomy with the word woman and butch, woman and femme or woman and queer.
How is "woman" different from "female" (and I don't mean in the academic sense, but in the lived experience sense).
Because homo sapiens sapiens is an animal species using sexual reproduction, female describe, in most cases, a physiological and anatomical state of the body. It is usually the phenotype expressed from the XX genes. ( I said USUALLY!!!! which means not always ).
As Simone de Beauvoir wrote in Le deuxième sexe: "On ne naît pas femme: on le devient." Which can be translated by: One is not born a woman: one becomes a woman. (N.B: the word sexe in french has both the meaning of sex and gender). So yes, being a woman differs from being a female because gender is based on a social and cultural construct. Being a woman in Québec is very different from being a woman in Burkina Faso...
What does "woman" mean?
Woman means what I made, make and will make of it. The sky is the limit.
What does "woman" not mean?
Woman does NOT mean: weak, feeble, non assertive, passive, over sensitive, .... But that is MY definition of woman.
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