I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

[sorcyress]

Women are warm and soft and curvy, and squish in all the right places. They have nice breasts, and hips, and don't have sharp elbows or knees. They take care of their body, and do things to make it look and smell nice.

They know how to cook, and are good at it. They make things from raw ingredients, not from boxes, and know how to go shopping for what they need, and don't even bother with recipes, since it's all so very simple to them anyways.

They sew things. They can both make things from patterns, like costumes and period clothing, or they can modify things that they get from other stores, to make them fit better.

They know what colours look good on them, and what colours match with each other, and what colour belt you should wear with these shoes, and what pattern shirt you should wear with that skirt. They can tell what clothes flatter their figure well, and what clothes won't. They look good in dresses. They own proper underwear, with lace sometimes, that serves just as much as decoration as it does utility.

They wear make-up, often every day. They know how to do it subtle-like, so that no one can tell they're made up, and they know how to do it striking, to emphasize their eyes and cheeks and lips. They can apply lipstick in one go. They know what hues to use for their skin tone. Similarly, they know lots of pretty things to do with their hair, and can pick or choose to match the occasion.

Women follow when they dance. If they're quite good at dancing, they lead sometimes as well, but only with the very inexperienced. They are good at following, and do not try to back lead.

They are flirtatious in appropriate ways. If they are single, they can flirt with strangers out in the big wide world, catch eyes, ask boys for numbers, all that sort of things. If they are hooked, they know how to behave properly as half a couple, know when to kiss their boyfriend, and how to hold him and where hands should be placed.

They do not tell dirty jokes. They may be bawdy in groups of their closest girl friends, discuss vibrators or birth control or very mild kinks, but they wouldn't dare mention masturbation in mixed company, or be vulgar. They are not sexual creatures in public. They may sometimes tease their boyfriends in public, but no one else, and get embarrassed if someone notices.

They are monoamorous, and display cautious amounts of jealousy towards their boyfriend's female friends. They are heterosexual, except for perhaps a few incidents of experimentation in high school or college, and perhaps except for a best friend, with whom wildly over the top, and completely platonic flirtation can occur.

~S/R
MOOP!

Comments

[batshua]

*hugs*

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

Crap! I totally shoulda married a woman.

[fizzygeek.livejournal.com]

By this definition, I am most decidedly not a woman...never have been, never will be.

However, I am perfectly happy being female.

[erikakaiser.livejournal.com]

Yes. How dreadfully sad that you're not a 1950's housewife.

Are you incapable of just Existing without worrying about gender, stereotypes, what you think of yourself, and what other people think of you? This whole post seems to me like you're upset that you're different, but I know also that you're very proud you're different. I think that's a basic part of figuring out who you are or being human or whatever, but you seem to fixate on it one way or the other.

Just, you know. Exist.

[leemoyer.livejournal.com]

"don't have sharp elbows or knees"

Wow. Annaliese even has sharp cheekbones, scapulae....

[harena.livejournal.com]

i don't wear makeup, i have pointy elbows, tell dirty jokes, and am bisexual!

Clearly i am not a woman as i've been claiming for some time now! ;D

[siogai.livejournal.com]

Women are human, and thus have a vastly wider variation than the simple narrative here presented. I have never met, don't want to, and never expect to, anyone who fits the description above.

My hope is that every person finds ways to see themselves as they are and as they want to be, and to love who they find themselves to be. We are our own constant company as we travel through life, and far better to be friends.

Also... Gender is not a duality, nor a dichotomy. It's just not that simple.

Are you saying...

[dhs.livejournal.com]

... that you are not a woman?

[jazzfish]

How dreadfully dull.

. . .

*hug*

[marmota.livejournal.com]

S'okay, I pegged you for a space alien anyway the first time we met. ;P

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

Bah. Women.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

I think I have paragraphs 3 and 4 pretty well covered, if you count the lace at the bottom of the slip I never wear.

[herbertinc.livejournal.com]

you also have nice hips.

Love,
Herbert.

[ms-hecubus.livejournal.com]

Sweetie, I know no women like that. Heck, I don't even know anyone who expects all women to be like that. You're just starting out in your adult life. Give it a little time and you'll find there are a lot more like minded people than you ever imagined. Seriously. Even people you think you couldn't possibly have anything in common with usually turn out to have something with which you can connect. People with whom you share nothing usually move in circles so far away from yours that your oribts never cross.

[jestingly-yours.livejournal.com]

Women have vaginas.

I think you're devoting a little too much energy to stereotyping, here.

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

Women may or may not have vaginas.

[jestingly-yours.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the ownership of a vagina is one of those defining factors of womanhood you can't really skimp on.

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

There are MtF women who have not had bottom surgery. They are no less women. I do not believe in Women-born Women being the only women.

[jestingly-yours.livejournal.com]

And I believe the difference between men and women to be purely physical.

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

And I believe you to be ass out wrong.

words, people!

[woozle.livejournal.com]

This comment doesn't make sense in light of the comment I made (http://jestingly-yours.livejournal.com/71186.html?thread=199954#t199954) on the post you and Erika wrote.

You really need to read that, and address it, before you go making more assertions in this area, because you seem to be lacking a great deal of relevant information.

[batshua]

Actually, and I'm not going to google for it right now, even if you chose to exclude MtFs from the equation, there are women, born female, who do not have vaginas.

[ndkid.livejournal.com]

I won't speak for woozle, but this reads to me like a semantic argument. You sound as though you are defining "woman" in a chromosomal way. woozle appears to define "woman" in an anatomical way. (I'm guessing a vagina is necessary, but not sufficient.) I get the impression kittikattie has a different definition than either of these, but I couldn't quite tease it out of this context. And, of course, all of this started based on kdsorceress tossing out an impressively narrow definition above.

While I'm all for semantic arguments, at a certain point, I think the more useful question is: as long as everyone understands each others semantics, is there a need to get everyone to have the *same* semantics? And, if the answer is "yes", does that imply we should do so with *all* words? Personally, I find in my life, I am flummoxed by differing definitions of "relationship" and "love" than "woman".

[woozle.livejournal.com]

Well, who needs to be a "women" anyway? Maybe this is why I never liked the word "woman", and always felt more comfortable with "girl" or just "female": "women" have a lot of silly ideas about what they should be and do.

I could post my own long list of the traits-I-think-of-as-feminine of which I am most fond, but wouldn't that be then setting my own, additional, set of expectations (even if they're not expectations) from which you could then fall short?

You are who you are, and you know perfectly well that you are awesome. If anyone is complaining because you don't meet any particular stereotypical gender attribute, you let me know who and where and I'll come whack them with a frying pan (or verbiage, if you'd rather).

(/me idly wonders if The Sor Generation is growing up emotionally stunted from not regularly hearing Mister Rogers say that "you make each day special by just your being you" -- it seemed hackneyed and trite at the time, but now it seems almost radically profound. Can you say "world peace", boys and girls? Sure you can.)

[stgreyhounds.livejournal.com]

"I'm proud of you
I'm proud of you
I hope that you're as proud as I am
Proud of you
I'm proud of you
I hope that you are
Proud of you, too."

Mr. Rogers FTW.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

I've been insisting that I'm a bachelor; this clinches it.

After reading this post, my own conclusion is

[mrs-pansy.livejournal.com]

there aren't very many women in this world. A lot fewer than I ever realized.

[tacnukesoul.livejournal.com]

OK, "true" on sentence 1, "maybe" on sentence 2, and lots of varying magnitudes of "false" for the rest.

(puts name on top of page and hands it in to be graded)

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

That gives me 3 out of, um, lots. (I claim nice breasts, a color sense, and the ability to follow.)

[rrainew.livejournal.com]

gag.

Holy crap, You just turned me into a lesbian :)

[fibre.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why you lovely ladies ever so much as give us guys the time of day. Well other than to mow the lawn.

[thorog.livejournal.com]

Rar drama.

I think you need to define "woman" before you start this. Or alternatively, you need to stop disagreeing.

[zaphod-groupie.livejournal.com]

Well, you've hit me pretty much spot-on up until six, and I've got parts of seven, eight and nine going for me.

The fact that I am not outraged, or at least saddened, on a daily basis by gender stereotyping and a lot of the fuckery that comes with society's expectations of binary gender is largely due to the fact that is usually doesn't affect me, much. I'm not a stepford wife, but, ummm...I cook, I sew, I like dressing up and makeup and being a girl. I guess I'm just lucky that I'm entirely comfortable in the body I got.

*ponder*

[ednoria.livejournal.com]

Fuck. You.

[shield-toad111.livejournal.com]

You're missing some characteristics in your original post - playing an instrument, singing, painting, cross-stitch, knowing what to order to stock the larder, running the household staff, being able to produce an heir, etc. That is, it seems as if many of your points are to describe the characteristics one would want to possess in order to attract a husband in bygone days (I don't know enough about specifics for different eras to be able to more narrowly define my criteria).

At any rate, I possess many of the qualities that you listed and most that I listed and I have never particularly considered any of them to be what makes me a woman. Of course, I don't I've never actually spent much time considering my womanhood, as I have never had any doubts about my gender, or anything else about my person. I certainly have my insecurities, but they usually pass and have never been related to who I am at my core. I just occasionally forget that I can do anything that I set my mind to. When I remember that, life once again becomes good. [Ok, it isn't quite that simple, but I'm content with my lot at the moment and don't know if I want or am able to go back and analyze myself in less happy times.]

[shield-toad111.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity, what are men?