Now say he’s a featherless (female) biped and we’re full circle
From a biological perspective, this question has been answered already as it’s really not that hard.
Many people apparently just don’t like the answer.
Actually more complicated than that. Sex is broken up into a bunch of factors. Phenotype is the word used to mean the grouping of characteristics we associate with either male or female. So that roughly covers genitals, secondary characteristics (boobs, body hair, build differences etc)… But it’s actually wild.
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Chromasomal sex - On it’s own means very little. If you have say an XY chromasome but for the sake of example an androgen insensitivity you develop as (phenotypically) female in the womb.
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Horomonal Sex - Is the mix of horomones that impact development. Whether you develop to appear male or female starts in the early stages of development in rhe womb and then kicks into high gear as puberty and can change unexpectedly. This means for example that there’s people who were born appearing entirely female and yet naturally develop along male lines later and vice versa.
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Internal reproductive Anatomy - This one gets crazy where individuals don’t always have internal organs that match their chromosomes. You can have opposite, none, both.
The precursor of trans medicine involved a lot of case studies seeing how naturally occuring variation in biological sex worked and the more it was studied the more scientists began to panic because they realized that the model of sorting into two strict sexes was flawed. There’s a lot of people out there who live practically their entire lives only to realize at the doctor’s office that they have surprise characteristics quietly existing hidden just below the skin. This lead to scientists realizing that for the most part the idea of phenotype and indeed a strict definition for biological sex is actually pretty wishy-washy.
The reason you weren’t taught this in high school is more or less that they just don’t prioritize it because they have to coach a group of students, many of whom are not scholarly material, through an overview of stuff. High school biology is basically all technically wrong because it’s been simplified to give you a taste of the discipline. If you start going to med school the first thing they do is tell you to light everything you think you know about the body on fire, throw it in the trash and start from scratch because half the stuff you were taught is going to need be unlearned. “Chromosome = sex” is one of the things that goes in the burn bin.
This is such an insane statement. In biology almost any kind of sexual behavior has been observed including male species who carry the young in their body (sea horses), species that are both male and female, species that change gender during a lifetime, species without gender etc etc. Literally anything goes in the biological world.
Literally anything goes in the biological world.
While true, there are some established standards. And amongst mammals, the standard is always that males take care of food, protection and territory defense (if applicable) while females give birth and primarily take care of children. Are there exceptions? Absolutely. But for most of the existence of the human species, it was just like that - males were taking care of food and protection, while females were doing the “safer” jobs, like childcare of gathering.
Yes, biology is complex, but the case of humans is rather clear-cut. The only reason why we argue about this is because we have evolved to a point where we’re no longer that reliant on biology - that does not change the fundamentals tho.
Are there exceptions? Absolutely.
Exceptions imply that these roles are not strictly inherent to animal (including human) behavior. If colonizing countries weren’t all patriarchal, I’m sure we would’ve seen many more exceptions.
These exceptions exist for a reason, whether or not they fit your personal worldview.
But for most of the existence of the human species, it was just like that - males were taking care of food and protection, while females were doing the “safer” jobs, like childcare of gathering.
This is just a bad argument, and has been used to justify all kinds of awful things. why would the fact that humans have always done things a certain way imply that that’s a good thing? Is slavery a good thing? rape? colonization? genocide?
Rigid gender roles have only truly served half of the human population. Even so, men have also suffered in other ways because of them. Why shouldn’t we work to better everyone’s lives, in as many ways as we can manage?
Yes, biology is complex, but the case of humans is rather clear-cut.
This is demonstrably false. Biologists have known as much for… quite a while. Please consider informing yourself before making claims about important topics.
You are just making this up as you go along. I can disprove your theory by the animal living in my house: cats live solitary lives and therefore do not divide tasks between genders. The idea that females primarily take care of children makes no sense since in most species (incl. most mammals) kids grow up pretty quickly. In most animals there is no sharp distinction of tasks between males and females.
The standard is always X. Are there exceptions? Absolutely.
Then the standard isn’t always X lmfao
Ther is literally no definition you give that will not exclude any cis women at all.
I don’t even think they have a definition. The closest they’ve gotten to one in this thread was “males take care of food, protection and territory defense (if applicable) while females give birth and primarily take care of children,” but then later in that same comment they said that there are exceptions. It’s an even worse definition than the adult human female thing, because that at least tries to make a box that every woman fits in
I think the overarching definition needs to go a bit abstract and fuzzy. Like, a woman is a role that society defines and associates with certain acts, activities,. expectations and looks, blah blah blah. This is the approach some medicine takes when defining drug abuse. What’s drug abuse? According to a nursing textbook it’s what society defines it to be.
I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but from a biological standpoint, it’s the same thing. Different female animals have their “own” names aswell, like Ewe (female sheep), Sow (female Pigs), Hen (female Chicken), Doe (female goat), Mare (female horse) etc. Same thing for humans - we just happen to call the female ones “Woman”.
Same thing for humans - we just happen to call the female ones “Woman”.
You still haven’t defined “female,” you’ve just written paragraphs and paragraphs of behavior that you usually associate with female animals, while acknowledging that there are male animals that also exhibit those behaviors.
How do you define female?
That’s not a “biological standpoint” it’s a social one. We invented the names for animals. And there’s more than one word for female horse because it was useful for us to differentiate foal/yearling/filly/mare, and males get an extra one if they’re castrated.
Speaking of inventing names for things: biological sex is not the same concept as gender even though they are very often aligned and used interchangeably. It’s just people who don’t know enough about anthropology and biology lack the full context to understand that.
“A trans person is only valid if they live in a region where they can get gender affirming care, and also can afford it” is honestly one of the worse takes I’ve seen
The logical conclusion of your own comment
id say you are a woman if you have a vagina, either born with it at birth, or if you transition later in life.
Unless you typed wrong, this means that you would accept a trans woman as a woman only if she’s had bottom surgery. Ergo, you only accept a trans woman as a woman if she lives in a region where bottom surgery is available, and can afford it.
that seems to be the most popular think are the sex organs.
That doesn’t really work, though, since chicks with dicks are a thing.
My understanding was that current consensus was that humans with ovaries are born with all of the eggs already created - waiting to be released - and no more are created after that. So you’re either born holding eggs or you ain’t, and intention and capability don’t come into it.
It also excludes women with certain kinds of infertility.
The social/political definition of women should just be believe what people say they are because otherwise you’re creating a genital/dna inspector.
As for the biological definitions, we should teach more people biology. There are like 6 definitions of species so biology has trouble answering “what is a human”
A woman is one of those things where know you one when you see one. Doesn’t have to be any more complex than that.
Like Jiminy Cricket said, “Let your conscience be your guide”
That’s what I initially thought, too, but there are people who identify as a woman who 100% look like a man to me. It’s rare, but it does happen, and I’m not going to argue with them about it.
If you say you’re a woman, then you’re a woman, and it shouldn’t be any more complex than that.