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Three of us would like to know:
If you use, or hear, any of the following terms to identify a woman, what
do they mean to you:
- womanist
- woman-identified woman
- male-identified woman
We discussed several possibilities - what do you think they really mean?
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Mike, I think it was a typo as the FGD note is almost identical to the
FWO base note. I guess that some men may use one or more of the terms
or perhaps a male womannoter wants to comment about the one or more of
the terms. Anyway, the inclusion of a FGD string on the topic seems a
good way to open up the discussion and INCLUDE everyone.
I like the idea of parallel strings on this topic as the definitions
may indeed vary according to gender. It isn't always easy to figure
out who is who from a nodename, a couple of colons, and a surname. :^)
Even if you have never used the terms, perhaps you'd care to react to
the words. They seem to be loaded words meriting some reaction.
Me, I'm still thinking about meaning.
margaret
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| Lessee now. I've never used the terms mentioned, but I've heard them in
a couple of different contexts:
One way I've heard them used seemed to indicate that the women were
identifying with other women (for the woman-identified) - that is, they
considered women - any women - to be more significant than men in their
lives, felt more comfortable with women, etc. The man-identified ones
would be those who placed more importance on, and felt more comfortable
with, men.
The other context indicated that "woman-identified" meant "identifying
with traditionally female aspects of character and personality", such
as nurturing, peacemaking, or what-have-you; and the "man-identified
woman" was a woman who identified with traditionally male aspects, such
as aggression and assertiveness.
So - a context-1 "woman-identified woman" might spend all her time with
women, but would not necessarily act in a traditionally feminine
manner, whereas a context-2 "woman-identified woman" might be the image
of traditional womanhood, but wouldn't necessarily like other women or
want to spend time with them.
As for "womanist," I'd be guessing; I haven't heard it often, if at
all, and never with enough context to guess what was meant.
-b (person who happens to be female and doesn't "identify with" FWO
notes...)
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