What is a woWhat is a woman? If you were to google “am I a woman” you would be bombarded with many quizzes that test what gender you lean toward. In her speech entitled “Aint I a Woman”, Sojourner Truth spoke to the debate still raging today about what makes a woman, a woman. People have identified both men and women in various ways in the past and present, but recently the debate has gotten increasingly heated in the wake of more awareness of transgendered persons and others who do not conform to a particular sex. Two of the most prevalent and basic arguments of what the terms “woman” or “man” mean are as polarizing as they are old. On one side, there are persons who describe man or woman from a gendered perspective and on the other there
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This way of thinking correlates directly with the age old notion that women and men have to behave a certain way. It pressures both men and women to act according to gender binaries based on temperament, intellect, and strength. In Julie McCarthy’s article, A Journey Of Pain and Beauty: On Becoming Transgender In India, published in NPR, she discusses the strifes of India’s marginalised population of hijra. These are not just transgendered women but are what could be defined as a third sex, in India the term is applied to those who do not conform to their biological sex. The article focuses specifically on Abhina Aher, a hijra who recounts transitioning and not feeling like a man but rather a …show more content…
She is a woman, but she is not dainty. She can work as hard as any man and does not receive the treatment that is was thought women were supposed to. If we think of women based on a gendered definition, the answer to Sojourner’s question is no, because she didn’t behave like a woman, work like a woman, or get treated like a woman. The better way to look at this is from a biological perspective because it includes Sojourner and women like her. Women who do not think like, act like, or reason like the gendered definition of women would receive a yes to the question of “aint I a
This way of thinking correlates directly with the age old notion that women and men have to behave a certain way. It pressures both men and women to act according to gender binaries based on temperament, intellect, and strength. In Julie McCarthy’s article, A Journey Of Pain and Beauty: On Becoming Transgender In India, published in NPR, she discusses the strifes of India’s marginalised population of hijra. These are not just transgendered women but are what could be defined as a third sex, in India the term is applied to those who do not conform to their biological sex. The article focuses specifically on Abhina Aher, a hijra who recounts transitioning and not feeling like a man but rather a …show more content…
She is a woman, but she is not dainty. She can work as hard as any man and does not receive the treatment that is was thought women were supposed to. If we think of women based on a gendered definition, the answer to Sojourner’s question is no, because she didn’t behave like a woman, work like a woman, or get treated like a woman. The better way to look at this is from a biological perspective because it includes Sojourner and women like her. Women who do not think like, act like, or reason like the gendered definition of women would receive a yes to the question of “aint I a