As people live and grow their views and ideas develop and change. I am no different. If someone were to ask kindergarten me what it means to be a woman, I would have replied with something about appearances and personality. As a young child, I saw women to be people with long hair and curvy hips, people who found interest in the pretty parts of life even when I myself had aspects about me which did not fall into this small compartment of a label. If someone asked fifth grade me the same question, what it means to be a woman, I would have thought myself smart and educated by answering that a woman is someone with breasts and a vagina. Now, several years later, I have a different answer to this difficult question.
To me, being a woman is something you decide to be. At birth, a child is given either the gender of male or female based off of their anatomy. To most people the question of “am I really a man?” or “am I really a woman?” is not something they find themselves asking. This is perfectly normal. For others, identity is not quite so simple. There are times when someone who was given the identity of male at birth decides they are in fact female. This is also perfectly normal. According to the New York Times writer Jan Hoffman, “About 1.4 million adults in the United States identify as transgender.” This is double the previous estimate taken five years prior. If someone is born with the identity of female and choose to be female, they are a woman. If someone is born with the identity of male and later decide they are a female, they are a woman. Being a woman is not something society chooses for an individual.
The traditional views of women are someone with breasts and a vagina. Going further than this. Women are defined by society as feminine. But what does it mean to be feminine? Some believe femininity is finding pleasure in “girly” culture. This includes wearing dresses and makeup. Others such as Mrs. Goforth, Northeast’s Women’s Literature teacher, believes the terms “female” and “feminine” should not be as closely related as they are. When Mrs. Goforth thinks of the word “feminine” she thinks of, “Things that are softer, usually, you know, lighter colors and things like that.” She then says, “But I also don’t necessarily associate those things with just women. And so as the idea of what I view a woman to be has changed, I’ve kind of disassociated those two words from each other.” Society views femininity as people with long hair, curvy hips, and large breasts. This is largely due to the strong influence of media which displays this as the “ideal” woman. But not every woman fits into this body type. Some women choose to cut their hair short. Does this make them any less of a woman? Some women have smaller hips. Does this make them any less of a woman? Some women have small breasts. Does this make them any less of a woman? If not, what dictates who a woman is? Is it perhaps the clothes they wear? Stores are divided into departments of male and female. If a woman is to purchase and wear clothing from the men’s department, clothing not typically seen on women, does this mean they are less of a woman than someone who shops from the women’s department? Maybe the true definition of a woman is their personality and what they are interested in. Women are often expected to be sweet and innocent. If men are to make crude jokes or be rowdy they are just “boys being boys”, but if women are to do the same they are being “unladylike”. In elementary school there are always instances of boys picking on girls with actions such as pulling hair or name calling. While this is bullying, school boards and parents often pass off such behavior as just “boys being boys”. Apparently, this explanation fits for any behavior men display. Back in 2014, in Montana, a five-year-old girl was a rape victim. As stated by the New York Daily News, when the mother of the five-year-old questioned why her daughter’s attacker was not being thoroughly punished “a Montana prosecutor reportedly had a heartless explanation for the mother a 5-year-old rape victim — ‘boys will be boys.’” But as society changes, women are allowed more and more to leave the confines of being polite and sweet as they have always been expected to be. Just as the expected personality for women has changed in society over the years, women’s interests have been allowed to change as well. More and more women are publicly finding interests in previously male dominated activities such as math, science, and athletics. In 2013, 50.3% of the nation’s science and engineering bachelor’s degrees were earned by women. Also during the 2013-14 academic year, the number of teams competing in the NCAA championship sponsored sports increased drastically. The number of women’s teams raised by 140 teams while the men’s number raised by 111. If personalities and interests do not define someone as the traditional male or female genders, than what makes a woman a woman?
The definition of a woman, according to the dictionary, is an adult female person or “a person bearing two X chromosomes in the cell nuclei and normally having a vagina, a uterus and ovaries, and developing at puberty a relatively rounded body and enlarged breasts, and retaining a beardless face; a girl or woman.” The definition of a woman is so much simpler than society makes it out to be. A woman is someone who feels happiness and pride when they think of themselves as a woman. Anatomy does not matter. Appearance does not matter. Clothing, personality, interests, none of these matter in terms of someone’s gender. If someone believes women should be allowed to do the same things as men because “it’s not just for men”, then what makes something for men? What makes something for women? It is society’s views that have created this barrier between genders.
Gender is such a touchy and confusing subject. So many people in society are close-minded and unable to look past the traditional views of gender while others are too quick to attack people who are genuinely trying to understand. In today’s society gender is almost an abstract concept. To me, it is just a label society is desperate to hold onto as it relies so heavily on it.