Being a woman

[ZenKitty]

My favorite for the difference between a girl and a woman: bleeders and non-bleeders.

Men do not have this difference with boys.

[Joe Schmoe]

My favorite for the difference between a girl and a woman: bleeders and non-bleeders.

Men do not have this difference with boys.

Does someone become a woman when they start bleeding, or when they stop (menopause)?

[ZenKitty]

Does someone become a woman when they start bleeding, or when they stop (menopause)?

Damn good question, and one I forgot about.

I can not quite express how I would separate, with the same difference, without maybe it coming across wrong, so bear with me. There are those who are not bleeders (below puberty) and those who were/are bleeders (above puberty). And puberty is supposedly when they get their period, and so they become bleeders. If they have never gotten their period, then they are not bleeders. If they have gotten their period, but all of a sudden stop having it, like menopause, then they were/are bleeders.

[Helandhighwater]

Thanks, but no thanks, I like more cerebral men. lol

Black Dynamite is cerebral. Don't doubt The Pimp woman or he'll show you the hairy side.

My favorite for the difference between a girl and a woman: bleeders and non-bleeders.

Men do not have this difference with boys.

They all bleed if you cut them..?

[MagsJ]

Most females force the onslaught of womanhood, few let it just happen...

[James S Saint]

Being a woman is not merely a biological trait, but a psychological trait as well.
Except for the anatomy, many males are women.

Most females force the onslaught of womanhood, few let it just happen...

Well put.

[Arcturus Descending]

Most females force the onslaught of womanhood, few let it just happen...

Why do you say that, Magsj?
I don't think I agree with this. Physiologically speaking, it happens when it happens.
Emotional and psychologically speaking, it is a process, a journey.
If you are speaking in terms of young girls forcing their becoming women, they are still young girls and not women. Our perceptions and illusions about ourselves do not change reality.
Also, a lot has to do with the attititudes of the females' mother. A mother can hold a girl back from becoming a woman or help her along her journey into womanhood - loving and accepting her womanhood. If a mother cannot do that for herself, she is incapable of doing it for her child. But perhaps the female would be lucky enough to find someone, another female, a surrogate mother, if you will, who is capable of seeing herself (and reminding the other) of the goddess she truly is and the HUMAN besides.

[MagsJ]

Female children acting like grown women is forcing themselves into womanhood Arc - they see the effect that women's sexuality has on men and want the same... that is when men start taking advantage of the naive young, and their childhood is no more...

[MagsJ]

Most females force the onslaught of womanhood, few let it just happen...

Well put.

...from my observations

[Moreno]

Female children acting like grown women is forcing themselves into womanhood Arc - they see the effect that women's sexuality has on men and want the same... that is when men start taking advantage of the naive young, and their childhood is no more...

Not that you have ruled this out, but I think it is much more complicated than that. I think they force themselves toward womanhood to fit in and because of how they are judged by other women, in a context created very much by media - read, something more controlled by men. If you do not wear the right clothes, act the right way, wear the right amount of make up, party the right way you will be coached, threatened, shunned, mocked, bullied by other girls and also by boys. yes, the reactions of boys and men are noted and appealing to many, but there are so many factors pushing girls toward a role and punishing them for not taking it on. Boys too, another story but one obviously connected to the first.

[Ichthus]

I think the adulthood of being a woman or a man happens once one is no longer dependant on one's parents. If your parents still pay any of your bills, you are still a boy or girl. If you haven't flown the nest, you are still a chick, even after the onset of puberty or heterosexual act/love or turning 16, 18, 21, 40 or 100. Bare minimum, an adult no longer needs to be raised. Once you're on your own, you are a man if you're male, and a woman if you're female. If you have some intersex condition, you are at least an adult (if you're on your own).

[ILuvSocrates]

Being a woman is having xy chromosomes. I like my women like Penthesilia, as beautiful as a goddess and as badass as Rhonda Rousey.

[lizbethrose]

I think the adulthood of being a woman or a man happens once one is no longer dependant on one's parents. If your parents still pay any of your bills, you are still a boy or girl. If you haven't flown the nest, you are still a chick, even after the onset of puberty or heterosexual act/love or turning 16, 18, 21, 40 or 100. Bare minimum, an adult no longer needs to be raised. Once you're on your own, you are a man if you're male, and a woman if you're female. If you have some intersex condition, you are at least an adult (if you're on your own).

Which goes back, in a way, to my interpretation of de Beauvoir's quote given in the op. A girl child becomes a woman when she no longer accepts being told how to act, how to think, how to be what she may not be; a boy child became a man when he learned how to fend for himself, totally alone, relying only on what his family and the tribal elders had taught him. Ironic, isn't it?

[James S Saint]

Which goes back, in a way, to my interpretation of de Beauvoir's quote given in the op. A girl child becomes a woman when she no longer accepts being told how to act, how to think, how to be what she may not be; a boy child became a man when he learned how to fend for himself, totally alone, relying only on what his family and the tribal elders had taught him. Ironic, isn't it?

Well that explains a lot.
It seems that you are not aware of what a "woman" is.

[SIATD v2]

Why not bring old topics back up? I haven't read de Beauvoir so it's hard to understand a line out of context; instead, I'll try to explain what I think. A female becomes a woman when she acknowledges the real differences between male and female but refuses to go along with the female stereotype some men have created in order to bolster their often misunderstood (by them) maleness. Is sexuality gender-tied? If so how can there be different sexualities among both genders?

cn, I really don't see what your post has to do with being a woman.

Translation: I haven't a clue what the quotation means, so here's some whinging about men.

Dear Heart, that's what Simone de Beauvoir was!--a French Existential feminist, for goodness sake! Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was an earlier feminist writer, but she was British. Her husband, William Godwin, a political philosopher, agreed with her, by the way--so did her son-in-law, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

On my life, do you think I'm the only woman on these boards?

Good old arguing about authors you've never read based on Wikipedia pages. Where would the ignorant be without it?

What does it take to become a woman?

As Pandora implied..
What it takes is the right Man.

What it takes is Black Dynamite.

Dynamite! Dynamite!

[Helandhighwater]

What it takes is Black Dynamite.

Dynamite! Dynamite!

Righteous brother.

Big black guy, big black gun, big black attitude and some nunchucks will solve any woman's problems.

[lizbethrose]

Translation: I haven't a clue what the quotation means, so here's some whinging about men.

Dear Heart, that's what Simone de Beauvoir was!--a French Existential feminist, for goodness sake! Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was an earlier feminist writer, but she was British. Her husband, William Godwin, a political philosopher, agreed with her, by the way--so did her son-in-law, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

On my life, do you think I'm the only woman on these boards?

Good old arguing about authors you've never read based on Wikipedia pages. Where would the ignorant be without it.

I've not read de Beauvoir's novels, but I've studied the literature of her time, post-WWII existentialism (Sartre) and believe I know a bit more about lit than you do, SIA, and no matter where information comes from, if it's accurate, (as it is in this case, having read a bio of de Beauvoir) there's no reason not to use it. My conclusions, however, are my own.

I don't believe becoming a woman is a matter of "finding the right man," which I find to be insultingly sexist. If you read the quote, know the time and place, know the bio, it really shouldn't be too difficult to deduce the meaning of the quote. A girl becomes a woman not when she has her first menstrual period, not when she has her first sexual experience. Helen Reddy had it right, when she wrote:

I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again

CHORUS
Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman

You can bend but never break me
'cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

CHORUS

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my brother understand

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman
Oh, I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong

FADE
I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman

That's what being a woman is.

You may also want to study feminism through the ages. 'Cause it isn't at all new--it goes all the way back to the ancients.

[SIATD v2]

I've not read de Beauvoir's novels,

I have.

but I've studied the literature of her time, post-WWII existentialism (Sartre)

I am certain you either haven't read or haven't understood Sartre's philosophy.

and believe I know a bit more about lit than you do, SIA,

Not likely.

and no matter where information comes from, if it's accurate, (as it is in this case, having read a bio of de Beauvoir) there's no reason not to use it.

Saying 'de Beauvoir was a feminist' and then splashing a load of man-hating female hormone claptrap all over the place and pretending that is what de Beauvoir meant is not giving accurate information.

My conclusions, however, are my own.

Not really, since they are comprised of talk show cliches.

I don't believe becoming a woman is a matter of "finding the right man," which I find to be insultingly sexist.

You clearly haven't found the right man yet.

If you read the quote, know the time and place, know the bio, it really shouldn't be too difficult to deduce the meaning of the quote.

It would have been quicker just to read one or two of her books. They aren't particularly long.

A girl becomes a woman not when she has her first menstrual period, not when she has her first sexual experience. Helen Reddy had it right, when she wrote:

I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again

CHORUS
Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman

You can bend but never break me
'cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

CHORUS

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my brother understand

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman
Oh, I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong

FADE
I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman

That's what being a woman is.

What, self-glorifying nonsense about being invincible? Women aren't strong. If they were, then men wouldn't be able to rape them.

You may also want to study feminism through the ages. 'Cause it isn't at all new--it goes all the way back to the ancients.

No shit. Here I was thinking that women have only existed for the last 50 years. I'm so glad you put me straight on that...

[SIATD v2]

What it takes is Black Dynamite.

Dynamite! Dynamite!

Righteous brother.

Big black guy, big black gun, big black attitude and some nunchucks will solve any woman's problems.

You forgot the most important ingredient - a big black dicking...

[Helandhighwater]

Big black guy, big black gun, big black attitude and some nunchucks will solve any woman's problems.

You forgot the most important ingredient - a big black dicking...

You forgot to note the point about a big black gun. Subtle I know but in that picture the weapon is silver.

That aside, we know Black Dynamite is good in the sack, because Black dynamite is a Pimp and a player too.

[Only_Humean]

Can we keep things on topic and civil, please?

[Helandhighwater]

Can we keep things on topic and civil, please?

Are you taking the piss, or not referring to me? Because I don't think what we said was less than civil?

I am going to assume the latter, but its hard to tell sometimes.

[Only_Humean]

Can we keep things on topic and civil, please?

Are you taking the piss, or not referring to me? Because I don't think what we said was less than civil?

I am going to assume the latter, but its hard to tell sometimes.

Haha, the latter for civility, but on topic applies. Unless an appreciation of Black Dynamite really is a fundamental aspect of being a woman.

[SIATD v2]

Unless an appreciation of Black Dynamite really is a fundamental aspect of being a woman.

Look at the unhappy women on this forum, I bet none of them know who Black Dynamite is. It may not be part of being a woman per se, but it is part of being a happy women, f' sure.

[Helandhighwater]

Can we keep things on topic and civil, please?

Are you taking the piss, or not referring to me? Because I don't think what we said was less than civil?

I am going to assume the latter, but its hard to tell sometimes.

Haha, the latter for civility, but on topic applies. Unless an appreciation of Black Dynamite really is a fundamental aspect of being a woman.

Yes, yes it is.