A woman is an adult human female whose gender identity aligns with her biological sex (cis woman) or an adult human male or intersex whose inner gender identifies as such.


Other things are hard to define as well.
What is love?
What is life?
What is time?
What is kind?
What is hungry?
I am currently hungry. I am identifying as hungry. Please note no one is arguing with my definition of being hungry, or my ability to self identity as hungry. It’s an internal desire to eat, as defined by the individual person.
What is Christian? Please know there are thousands of churches across the globe arguing who is and isn’t a Christian. But if someone tells me they are Christian, I believe them. Self identification.
I think the change here, is with the growing acceptance of trans people, we are untangling biological sex from gender. Growing up, I was taught that in a very rigid manner, that biological is the same as gender and it’s all very black and white. It’s not, people are born intersex. Accepting trans people is changing all of this.
For me, I’ve seen many trans people happily blossom once they could transition, whereas before they would probably be dead from suicide or hate crimes. I think it’s a positive change, that we change this definition and allow for people who are a little different. Yes, it means changing a concept that is black and white to a little more gray, it makes the definition softer. But it has changed the lives of many people for the better. Fewer people are dying because we allow more room, by changing an old belief.

Recently I reread The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. It reminded that if we cling to tightly to old ideas, we as a society are capable of horrible things. If something new comes along that literally saves lives, is it not worth it? Is it worth it to muddy up the definition of woman a little bit of it saves countless trans people’s lives? The many people I know who are here today because they could transition, they alone are worth it to me. Lots of things have ambiguous definitions, like love, hunger, sadness, grown up, educated, etc. I’m okay adding woman to the list. Human lives trump rigid definitions and tradition.

I enjoyed your article. :)