Focus on People
Women
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A woman is an adult female human being, as contrasted to an
adult male, which is
a man. The term woman
(irregular plural:women) is used to indicate biological sex distinctions,
cultural gender role distinctions, or both.
Womanhood
is the period in a female's life after she has transitioned from a girl.
A girl is a female human child, as contrasted to an male
child, which is a boy.
The term girl is used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender
role distinctions, or both.
After they mature, they become known as a woman with various colloquial
exceptions, for example the word is also commonly used when discussing adult
females in relationships, such as in the word girlfriend.
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Sex
In terms of sex,
women have various sexual characteristics that differentiate them from men. In women, the sex organs
are involved in the reproductive system, whereas the secondary sex
characteristics are involved in attracting a mate or nurturing children.
Although fewer females than males are born (the ratio is around 1:1.05),
women make up the majority of the adult population. This is because males of all
ages have a slightly higher death rate (even in the womb) and women live, on average,
five years longer than men. This is thought to be a result of a combination of
factors:genetics (redundant and varied
genes present on sex
chromosomes in women); sociology (such as military service); health-impacting
choices (such as use of cigarettes and alcohol); the
presence of the female hormone estrogen, which has a
cardioprotective effect in premenopausal women, and the effect of high levels of
androgens in
men.
After the onset of menarche, most women are able
to become pregnant and bear
children. The study of female reproduction and reproductive organs is called
gynecology. Women generally
reach menopause in their late 40s or
early 50s, at which point they can no longer become pregnant.
In general, women suffer from the same illnesses as men; however there are
some sex-related
illnesses that are found more commonly or exclusively in women.
Biological factors are usually not the sole determinants of whether a person
considers themselves as man or is considered a woman or not, for example, it is
estimated that one in 30,000 people are women who have been born without a
typical female physiology (that is, they are transgendered or transsexual women), or some
women can have an abnormal hormone or chromosomal difference (such as congenital
adrenal hyperplasia), or another intersex condition; some of
those intersex people who have had a male sex assigned at birth sought to
reassign their sex later in their lives (or vice versa). (See gender identity)
Gender roles
Main article:gender role
Gender roles of women have changed greatly in history. Traditional gender
roles for women would involve work tasks that are centered around home
maintenance, a central role in caring for a family, and did not involve entering
employment for an independent salary. Later, throughout the general feminist
movement, these gender roles changed. These changes include many women were able
to choose between this traditional, so called "homemaker" role in certain
countries, or could enter into employment for an independent salary; labour
related to home and family was divided amongst both adults in the home.
Study including the gender roles of women, and how they have changed over
history, and the feminism movement is often
termed "women's studies".
Terms for women
While the usual definition of the word girl is "female child", girl
is also often used to refer to a young or unmarried woman. Since the early 1970s such usage has
been challenged by feminists. Today, using the word in the workplace (as in
office girl) is typically considered inappropriate in the
United States because it
implies a view of woman as infantile but remains commonplace in several other
English-speaking countries.
Conversely, in certain non-Western cultures, the word girl is still
generally used to refer to a never-married woman in English; in this sense
it is used in a fashion roughly analogous to the obsolete English maid
or maiden. Referring to an unmarried female as woman can, in
such a culture, imply that she is sexually experienced, which would be
considered insulting.
In more colloquial settings, the use of girl to refer to an adult
female is also common practice in certain usage (such as girls' night
out). In this sense, girl may be considered to be the analogue to
guy or bloke for a man (the latter being rare in U.S.
English). Usages that are non-parallel, such as men and girls, are
regarded by many as sexist.
In the popular culture of the 20th and 21st
century, several unofficial slang terms have appeared in the
English language to
describe women. Most such terms are intended in a negative light. The most
common and recognizable are as follows:
- Bitch:used
to describe a hateful and vindictive woman
- Ho:A shortening of the word whore, indicated a promiscuous
woman
- Fox:An extremely
attractive woman
- Sexy:
Arousing or tending to arouse sexual desire or interest
- Chick:A shortening of the word chicken, used to describe all
women
- Burger:A term invented on
The Cosby Show
intended to describe the degree to which a woman is attractive
- Husnock:
A science fiction term which, when applied to women, indicates an extremely
hateful and spiteful woman
- Sister:A
term which women, most often in the African American
community, use when addressing each other. The same term is also used within
some strands of feminism, and also in the transsexual community in
referring to other transsexual women.
- Hottie,
also Hot:An extremely attractive woman who is pleasing to the eyes
See also
External links
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