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'woman' - a change in the definition of the word

(40 Posts)
FarNorth Sun 11-Aug-19 16:14:56

In the new Bill, the definition was changed from “a female of any age” – the definition in the UK Equality Act of 2010, which protects women against sex discrimination – to include a “person who has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment”.

the legislation does “not require an appointing person to ask a candidate to prove whether they meet the definition of woman in the Act”.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/concerns-raised-over-scottish-government-s-definition-of-the-word-woman-1-4981283?fbclid=IwAR02vtyGSWay_S3cC3E7FiPaZ4t6iJZLgmTrhrq_LamWvmjoUxUJQUgk8xw

FarNorth Mon 12-Aug-19 18:50:50

Of course, it's impossible to 'become female' anyway.

Gonegirl Mon 12-Aug-19 18:56:32

Well if they were having hormone treatment, followed by surgery, you could, in fact would, say they were becoming female. Bearing in mind they had been forced to live their previous life as a boy/man.

But I've no doubt you know better.

Gonegirl Mon 12-Aug-19 18:59:17

You can report me for saying that if you like.

pinkquartz Mon 12-Aug-19 19:07:28

GG54

Actually there are some people for whom this choice is made at birth for them.
An hermaphrodite will be born with both sexual organs of male and female and a doctor will choose which gender they will be given.
Also sometimes in the past parents were asked what they wanted a boy or a girl.

I know the current inference is that there are people deciding that they are born in the wrong body and want to re-gender themselves but you cannot say 100% that it is clear at birth because that is not the case.

FarNorth Mon 12-Aug-19 20:01:27

I wouldn't say that, actually, Gonegirl.
I would say that however many hormones they take, or however much surgery they have, their body remains male.

Even if I did agree with you that doing those things causes a male to become female, I would never agree that simply making a decision (as stated in that previous quote) causes someone to change sex.

There was no mention there of any kind of treatment, just a decision.

FarNorth Mon 12-Aug-19 20:06:26

pinkquartz nowadays, it is much easier to determine, biologically, which sex a baby is.

In any case, intersex people are not the ones who are pushing for this legislation.

It is people with clearly male or female bodies who feel they don't fit the stereotypes associated with their sex and so they want to be accepted as the opposite sex, using stereotypes for that, of course.

RosieLeah Mon 12-Aug-19 20:34:57

One of the big problems here is those of us who were born female and are quite happy to live as female, are expected to accept those who identify as female as though they are one of us.....and they are not.

I watch a lot of the shopping channels on tv and recently, one of the guests was obviously male...about 6' tall, big hands, broad shoulders etc....but had a girls name and was dressed in womens clothes. It was quite obvious that the presenter , a woman, was very uncomfortable and didn't quite know how to inter-act with this person.

The first time I saw Lady Colin Campbell on tv, I was trying to figure out exactly what she/he is. The proportions of a man's body are different from a womans. They might kid themselves , but they don't fool us.

SueDonim Mon 12-Aug-19 20:44:39

I've been wondering how Caroline Lucas's proposal for an all-woman emergency cabinet is going to work, given that we now can't define what a woman is. The Greens regard women as non-men.

notanan2 Mon 12-Aug-19 21:04:15

medium.com/@JonahMix/an-open-letter-to-the-guy-on-twitter-who-wonders-if-biological-sex-is-real-58d2cb4403f5

RosieLeah Mon 12-Aug-19 21:04:45

Non-men?...Well that speaks volumes.

FarNorth Mon 12-Aug-19 23:42:59

Feminists have attacked an invitation to “non-men” by the young women’s arm of the Green Party.
www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/feminists-mock-green-party-young-womens-invite-to-non-men-a6987061.html%3famp

RosieLeah Tue 13-Aug-19 06:47:02

It seems the word 'actress' is now redundant too. Both sexes are now referred to as 'actors'. Surely that is a form of discrimination.

FarNorth Tue 13-Aug-19 07:28:03

I see that as inclusion, Rosie. I've never liked having a 'feminine' versions of some words while other words happily include everyone.
No driver / drivress, pilot /pilotess, painter / paintress etc.

BradfordLass72 Tue 13-Aug-19 08:16:44

Human rights are a recent addition to the plethora of rules

Really? Never heard of the Magna Carta?