What a woman is

To suggest that the meaning of the term “woman” is flexible, a matter of changing societal opinion or a question of linguistics, is wrong (“What is a woman?”, June).

There are reasons why there are so many derogatory terms for women and why in many languages “woman” is the same word as “wife” ( femme in French, frau in German) but this is about men’s attitudes to women, not about what women actually are.

To me, and to science, a woman is an adult female human whose biology at birth is indisputable. That some humans have chromosomes that don’t fit the male or female definition, or whose core belief is that they were born into the wrong body, is something I have a great deal of compassion for; I fully support their right to undergo medical procedures should they wish to.

Maybe linguistics will eventually give us a new word for trans women and trans men that would be acceptable to all, but “woman” and “man” they cannot be. It’s attitudes to people who are different that need to change, rather than people being defined only as women or men.

Kathryn Fox, via the website