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What makes a person a Woman?

If you were suddenly ousted from your body and could no longer define yourself as female based on psychical attributes, how would you still know what gender you are? You have no chromosomes, no breasts, no sex organs, no sexuality, no hair, no dainty feet, no swan-like neck or any other feature that has been pointed to as definitively "feminine". Can you still call yourself a woman? Or must you admit that perhaps you aren't a girl after all?

I've been struggling with questions like these over the past few months. I always depended on my thick, glossy hair and my mountainous breasts to define me as female. I no longer have these landmarks to look to for reassurance and, as this disease muddles my physical sexuality more thoroughly by the day, I find myself wondering if I can even count myself as a girl anymore. How can I be so sure that I'm not psychologically a male or a hermaphrodite or that I even possess a gender at all? What is it that makes a person a Woman?

Generally when people pose questions about differences between the sexes, they examine qualities of character or emotional traits. Men are courageous, patriotic, aggressive, and stoic, while Women are compassionate, patient, graceful and prone to mood swings. Since the 1970's when gender studies became more prevalent within the scientific community, there have been numerous articles and books and experiments that all reach the same conclusion: any characteristic can be expressed in any individual regardless of gender. It is still widely believed that some traits are predominately Female or Male (whether by nature or nurture, no one can say for sure), but properties like dependability or generosity cannot be relied upon to determine the sex of any human being.

If virtues and vices aren't what make a woman a Woman, then how can we define her? In our culture we consider certain movies and books and music and cars to be enjoyed only by females. We also have female occupations, clothing, jewelry, ideals, and behavior. But just as you can't define a person's gender based on their character, neither can you confidently define it based on their behavior or tastes. For example, I've known soldiers, supposedly the quintessential males: everything manly times one-hundred, who drove what were widely agreed to be girly cars. Also, I don't like romance novels, but I've known men who do. A classmate in high school traded his pants for a long skirt. Although his sexuality was questioned, wearing the skirt didn't make him any less of a man, just as a girl in blue jeans isn't counted as any less of a woman.

After months of introspection, self-inquisition, and after reviewing the facts I have come to the conclusion that a woman is a Woman because she considers herself one. A Woman is a person who, no matter what happens to her anatomy, retains a strong conviction that she is female. I define myself as a Woman, not because of my organs or my facial features or my bone structure, not because I'm compassionate or patient or loyal, and not because I dance to Britney Spears in my Hello Kitty underpants. I define myself as a Woman because at my core, the place where all physical trappings disintegrate, I know it to be true.