Who is a Woman?

That is a question that has plagued humanity since the dawn of civilization, and probably for a lot longer. So while i don't intend to say the final word on the question, and doubt that that will be done for a long long time yet, i do propose my idea for discusion and testing.

The basic Idea: As it has proven impossible to find any one criteria to define who is a woman, i propose that if there where a list of social, biological, mental and genetic criteria, it would be possible to say that if any particular person qualified in a certain number of these criteria, they would qualify as a woman.

As i allready wrote quite a lot about this in my diary, i'm not going to expand on the idea right now, but start writing up a list of criteria.

Do you have breast?
Do you have a vagina?
Could you bear a child? or Have you born a child?
Do you have XX chromosomes?
Do you generaly take the submissive role in a partnership, is it usualy you who trys to fix a broken relationship?
Do you have long hair?
Do you wear skirts, dresses, or other typicaly female clothing?
Do you feel yourself to be a woman?
Does society treat you as a woman?
Do you swish you hips as you walk?
Do you get paid less then your male co-workers in the same position as you, or do you work in a job where wages are below average and generaly women are employed ?

Well, i got one reply so far, from my sister. Here is what she wrote:

concerning xx and can you bear children: how would i know? i would ask: do you intend to bear children? or something like that.
another question: do you cry when you watch movies?
do you ask your (male) friends to help you with heavy stuff?
are you a feminist?
do you take care of relatives, be it older or younger?
do you wear makeup? (not many men do...)

I'll be submitting this list to antijen one of these days, perhaps right now, and hope that will generate some more responses. In the form below is still working, so feel free to post your own opinions.


Well, this is the list so far. I would be very interested in any comments you might have on this idea, and particularly any further criteria that you would like to see added to this list. For your convenience (and my fun) i have created this little form...

Basicaly all info is voluntary, but it is nice to know who submitted a comment, and if you would like me to get back to you about your ideas then of course an e-mail adress would be very useful.

I am:
My e-mail is:
My suggestions or comments are: