Female Terms

Term Paper # 102703

Gender and Sexuality
Women Studies

Female Terms

This paper describes the different ways of referring to women.

1,180 words () | 6 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at different words to refer to females, and explains that although the term female is first a biological distinction, the way the word is used, has a gender as much as a sexual distinction.
The author explores many other ways in which women are portrayed; some with biological basis; others that are clearly culturally defined; some that carry value judgments; concluding that both verbal and nonverbal cues contribute to how we view gender and how influential society at large is in this debate.

From the Paper:

"The term "female" is used in various ways, with the most basic use of the term being as the identifier of slightly more than half the population. Female is first a biological distinction in opposition to male, but the way the word is used has a gender as much as a sexual distinction, with gender being cultural rather than biological. The term is also used as an adjective to identify either biological differences or gender differences, with certain attitudes, states, or things characterized as "female" rather than "male.
"The dictionary definition of female follows the biological and states that a female is "a person bearing two X chromosomes in the cell nuclei and normally having a vagina, a uterus and ovaries, and developing at puberty a relatively rounded body and enlarged breasts, and retaining a beardless face; a girl or woman" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary CD-Rom). As an adjective, the dictionary says the word refers to being "of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a female person; feminine." Random House Unabridged Dictionary CD-Rom). The latter meaning in particular suggetes again gender differences, for what is masculine and what is feminine differ from one culture to another and may have little to do with sexual differences at all for a given individual."

Sample of Sources Used:

Barash, Daniel P. "Sexism: Strategies of Reprodcution, or When Is Beeswax Like a Ferrari?" In Gendered Voices, Karin Bergstrom Costello (ed.), 3-17. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1996.
"Female." Online Etymology Dictionary. 2007. March 21, 2007. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=f&p=3.
"Female." Random House Unabridged Dictionary, CD-Rom. New York: Random House, 1994.
"Female." Thesaurus.com. 2007. March 21, 2007. http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/female.
Gorman, Christine. "Sizing Up the Sexes." In Gendered Voices, Karin Bergstrom Costello (ed.), 26-35. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1996.