How can a transgender women be a real women?

Question

yes I believe mentally they are women but even with all the surgery they still have male bones, muscles, hips, skulls, DNA etc. Living in a male body, however altered, must influence the "women" inside them.
They age differently then real women, none of them can become pregnant, and none of them menstrate. The reason why I say transwomen can never be really women is because none of them can do, or be, or fulfill the roles of real women. Imagine all the real women in this world were killed and only men and transwomen were left. Then are transwomen still real women?
I want to debate this intellectually, for those who think transwomen are real women. What logical reasons do you have?

Answer 1

Define "real" women? If you want to get nit picky about it ,,,no, but for them, it's how they feel about themselves mentally, not physically (bones, muscle,etc), Yes, if all women were killed off and men and transgenders were left....we'd be screwed!!!!

Answer 2

Interesting question.
Physically, I do not think transgendered women are "real women" because of the facts you had pointed out - anatomically they do not have the anatomy of a woman even with all the surgeries and hormonal pills out there.
The question of mentally being a woman would have to be answered by a transgendered woman. I think they 'feel' and 'believe' they are women that's why they are transgendered - women trapped in a man's body. I would think that would have to be a frustrating life.

I would hope all real women would not be killed off because the world would end. No one can reproduce.

Answer 3

A tough question. I think you have to separate the mental and the physical here. Mentally, yes, after all it takes a lot of courage to go through what a transgender goes through, both in terms of surgery and in terms of society's view of them. And so, they wouldn't do it unless they really felt like a woman inside. And mentally that does make them a real woman. Physically, unless there are great leaps in surgical techniques, I think we have to say, in that sense, no, they are not true women. So I believe the answer to your question is yes and no.

Answer 4

The answer to your question may best be found in studies of children born with ambiguous genitalia. These "inter-sex" babies have the outside and inside reproductive organs of both genders. Previously, the more prominent outside genitalia determined which gender the child would be assigned to. This selection has historically been made by medical professionals and parents, with no input from the child. Unfortunately, many of these children grew up unaware they had this rare genetic disorder until adulthood when they discovered they most closely identified with the gender that was not assigned to them.

The study of these individuals is not a huge leap from the studies of transgendered individuals. What this study does suggest is that outside genitalia, does not always correlate with nor does it always determine which gender individual humans will most closely identify themselves with. Based on this information, yes, transgendered women are real women. Scientific evidence is proving that gender is based upon individual identity versus social assignment based upon outward appearance.

http://www.isna.org/
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003269.htm
http://www.intersexinitiative.org/articles/invisible-community.html

Answer 5

Biology, while it is extremely important, isn't always the "end all, be all." These women FEEL like women, and there is a lot of evidence that suggests this IS biological, for them. Much of our "gender" is determined by biology, but a lot is also determined by social conditioning. The criteria that you mentioned, being able to have children, and menstruate, are not the sole criteria for "womanhood" many women who were born women can't have children for physical reasons, and some can't menstruate. My point is that if that were the sole criteria for being a woman, a lot of women who were born biological women wouldn't qualify. Brain studies have shown that transgendered people have the same brain structures as the sex they WISH to be, not the sex they were born with. It all comes down to what being male or female really means, and I don't think it is as rigid as you would suggest.

Answer 6

I can see that either you are a transgender woman or in love with one. Man up! And stop worrying about what people think. DO what makes you happy!

Answer 7

So if all the fertile women in this world were killed and there were only women older than 50 who could no longer give birth, they wouldn't be "real" women either? So women who have their tubes tied aren't "real" women? So childless women aren't "real" women? So astronauts and firefighters and mail carriers who don't have children aren't "real" women? You've defined women as only those who are capable of bearing children. That excludes millions of women in the world. I think you need to see your definition of women as very limited. Being a woman is more than having children or menstruating.

Answer 8

Firstly to answer this question, one must ask "what is a real woman?". Also, what is a real man for that matter. By real woman are you implying that there are only two gender steriotypes (meaning that gender is a social construction and therefore these two gender "costumes" negate the fact that there are more than two gender performances?). Also, in describing what a real woman is you have mentioned physicality (ie they still have male bones, muscles, hips, skulls, DNA etc). I am sorry to tell you this, but there are more than two sexes (meaning more than XX and XY, infact there are about are many different combinations of chromonsal levels, meaning XXY, XXX, XOX, XYX).
The term, male and female, cannot be based solely on biological determinism anymore, because there are too many variations on body types. Therefore, to answer this question, I state that there is no "real woman", but there are human beings, who come in lots of different genders, lots of different sexes and lots of different variations.

Also, I have to say that it is an insult to women who cannot menstruate, cannot get pregnant and, in some cases do not have vagina's (for a variety of reasons, such as accidents etc) by labelling them as "not real women"? Perhaps you could ask those women who they felt about the label of "not real".

Also please explain to me what the role of the "real woman is". Find me one woman who states that she has given up her autonomy and independence to become this mythical role bearer of the "mythical real woman".

Answer 9

genetically you are correct we can never be "real" women, howeverbased on your argument women who cannot bear children whatever the circumstance cannot be considered "real" women either..so my question is this, does the act of conceiving and giving birth base the criteria on which a woman is measured? i dont think so. many women cannot reproduce, some choose not to but they are still women. The fact that i was born a male is a mistake of nature. nature is not perfect. i can take steps to mitigate what naure has gotten wrong so that i can therefore feel more comfortable about who i am. i may not have born a woman as far as the outside of my body is concerned, but i can and will assure you that i am every bit as much a real woman as any other woman out there..

Answer 10

Scientifically they can't. It's all about chromosomes X & Y.