Opinion : Letter to the Editor: What is a woman?

By Vinton Today · March 24, 2022, 10:01 pm

Editor:

So President Biden’s Supreme Court Nominee. Ketanji Brown -Jackson, cannot define what is a “woman”? I don’t have that problem as I have lived with a woman for north of fifty years. She has presented me with three children which are now adults and have families of their own.

A woman has two breasts which at the proper time lactate, she has two ovaries which at the proper time produce eggs, which at the proper time are fertilized, which at the proper time are adhered to the womb, and then through the miracle of pregnancy are delivered as miniature humans.

Is it possible that if she defined such that the transgender stuff would be shown as so much “used oats” with the same foul odor?

If she cannot define such a simple thing then the vote should be NO.

Regards,

John Stiegelmeyer

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DV April 4, 2022, 8:25 pm Certainly the physical aspects of gender are part of what a gender is. Biologists, however, have at least four markers for gender, physical, chromosomal, hormonal and brain based. These do not always match up. There are those who appear female who have more testosterone than some men. There are people born with two sets of genitalia and/or with XXY or XXX chromosomes. There are also people born with six fingers or vestigial tails. All that said, since all of these things happen, and I assume are guided by the creator - who are we to pretend to know what a woman actually is? There are different normals in the world. Perhaps those for whom the markers don't quite match up are a test to see if we have learned the creator's one great lesson - love and tolerate and accept. Perhaps it is incredible hubris for us to judge.

TF April 2, 2022, 8:03 pm John, Your Wikipedia reference offers a timeline of how the term “woke” has evolved but doesn’t offer a definition of its original intent. Webster says “woke” is a slang term, (Woke Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster): aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice) Here’s an example of what I think of when it comes to “woke”: I was in a certain box store a couple weeks ago where self-check-out is used instead of using a cashier, so they stop random people to check their receipts as everyone makes their way out of the store. As I walked out, two groups of people were ahead of me. The first group was an African American family of four. The greeter asked them to show their receipt, which they did, then they carried on. The second group was an African American couple, the greeter asked them to show their receipt, which they did, then they carried on. I was next. To keep things in context, I’m a white American male. I walked by the guy checking receipts like I was a piece of glass. I realize that out of what was a whole lot of people going in and out of a store that is open 24/7 I only took note of three groups leaving, which isn’t a fair representation of what goes on every day. On the other hand, what I noticed did give me pause. We have come a long way over the years, but we’re not there yet in terms of racial equality. None of this has anything to do with political affiliation. Right or left, who cares? None of us want racial inequality. “Woke” isn’t a disparaging term from any angle; rather it is a realization that we’re all in this together. Republican or Democrat, left or right, liberal or conservative, all of us, all of us. We all strive for racial equality. Don’t we?

JS April 1, 2022, 6:46 pm Mr. Parks, from Wikipedia only one of many. But generally anti capitalism anti work anti wealth generation generally racist. Thus: The terms woke capitalism and woke-washing have arisen to describe companies who signal support for progressive causes as a substitute for genuine reform. By 2020, parts of the political center and right wing in several Western countries were using the term woke, often in an ironic way, as an insult for various progressive or leftist movements and ideologies perceived as overzealous, performative, or insincere. In turn, some commentators came to consider it an offensive term with negative associations to those who promote political ideas involving identity and race. By 2021, woke had become used almost exclusively as a pejorative, with most prominent usages of the word taking place in a disparaging context.[1][2]

NG April 1, 2022, 1:12 pm John, after reading your posts about transgender I hope very strongly that you never have a child, grandchild or great grandchild come to you and tell you they are transgender or gay. I would feel very sorry for them to have you as their grandpa. You should be more careful how you speak about people you don't approve of. You don't know what you have to face in the future.

JP April 1, 2022, 12:05 am John - you mentioned the Bible … I saw this and thought if more people would remember that we don’t have all the answers- that we don’t have the audacity to think we do - maybe our world would be a whole lot kinder! https://hegetsus.com/

TF March 30, 2022, 10:55 pm John, I'm curious. Who or what are "wokes"?

JS March 30, 2022, 4:38 pm You have all missed the point!! My Sharon is a queen, a saint. All the time I was away on Air Force Duties or on airline trips she was the one in charge of finances child rearing and all the other things that make a home. I was defining what makes a woman a female. You missed it. Now down to basics. Instead of numerous sexes, there are only FOUR - thus Real Women or Fake women --- real men or fake men. Transgender as I have said is so much used oats with the same awful smell. Doubt it? Read Genesis. Adam was a real man -- Eve a real woman their offspring real children -- The words of Moses with the influence of the Holy Spirit. "Wokes" can go fly a kite. If Brown can't define a woman then she doesn't qualify for SCOTUS period.

LVD March 30, 2022, 2:32 pm You sound like you need to rest. I just feel sorry for your wife when THAT is your definition of a women.

GS March 29, 2022, 5:24 pm Just when a sense of hopeful nostalgia made me think that being from Vinton is nothing to be ashamed of…I come across this post on your opinion page. I’m saddened and am certainly less human for having read this antediluvian definition of half of the human race. And to see that some of your readers actually seem to agree with it…Mr. Edwards, et al only makes me more disheartened. It’s wrong in so many ways that I don’t know where to begin but will just call out the point that makes me most angry as a Father of two daughters and husband. Based on the writer’s definition, the more than 100,000 yearly female victims of breast cancer who have had to undergo a mastectomy to have a breast, or both, removed are no longer women. This is personal to me as someone who’s seen the effects of this disease, mastectomies and other cancer-fighting procedures first-hand from the bedside. You don’t think it’s hard enough for these women to hold together a sense of self without this type of knuckle-dragging nonsense being put forth by grown men? Then ‘yuck-yucked’ to by grown women! This deserves push back not just in words…and not Will Smith-type pushback, but positive dismissal. I’d encourage anyone who disagrees with this nonsense to put their money up and go to the Virginia Gay Hospital’s web site: www.myvghfoundation.org and donate to their noble effort to provide advanced mammography imaging to people who might not be able to obtain it. I have done so, in honor of an amazing woman from Vinton who had a positive impact on me as a young man – and was later lost too soon to her loving family because of breast cancer. Further, to any young person in Vinton facing challenges from living in a community where this perspective exists know that you can go to the Benton County Social Services web site and from their links page connect to https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ and to remember they are not alone no matter the challenges they face or where they live. Thank you for your time.

JS March 29, 2022, 3:57 pm This was the point of the whole piece --- thus: Is it possible that if she defined such that the transgender stuff would be shown as so much "used oats" with the same foul odor?

GB March 28, 2022, 11:20 pm Good read John. Don't let the usual Jesters deter you. They can't answer the question either.

JP March 26, 2022, 5:38 pm What a narrow and outdated view of a "Woman" - my daughters are more than what was so offensively described by the original post here. I am pleased to know that "Times, they are a changing!" Women - be LOUD, PROUD and Supreme Court Justices !! Maybe someday, we can add PRESIDENT !!

BT March 26, 2022, 1:35 am What I took away from the hearings was: why did she not answer about the Chazen Case where a man had over 6,000 images of sexually assaulting infants and toddlers to only be sentenced to 28 months when both sides attorneys said he needed the maximum months of 97 months. She would not answer but regurgitated nothing.

NG March 25, 2022, 10:02 pm John, that is one of the least important questions of the four days i watched the hearing, but that is what you comment on. Did they ask Kavanaugh that question? I don't believe they did and he is the one they should have asked because he is the one who assaulted a woman. The problem is Republicans don't care what their nominees have said or done as long as they can stack the court with conservatives but they feel they must destroy, not just question but destroy any nominee from Democrats. Sometimes, like with Merrick Garland they don't even allow them to have a hearing. That is how crooked they are. Now we have a scandal from Judge Thomas and his wife which should never have happened because the Judge should have recused himself from that vote but Republicans don't think that way. They believe they can do anything they want. I thought Lindsay Graham was a bully as were Cruz and Hawley. Hawley, for example is guilty of the very thing for which he accused Judge Jackson while he was Attorney General of Missouri but guess it is OK when a Republican does it. Sheriff Becker was charged with violent sexual encounters against his former partner, who alleged he "choked" her with a shirt in one instance. He let that sexual abuser off with only probation in a plea deal. Hawley said at the time. "As a result of today's plea, Mr. Becker can no longer serve in any law enforcement capacity. The Knox County community is safer as a result of today's action." Really Hawley, but are women safer, I don't think so. One of his employees questioned his handling of human trafficking cases saying he sought TV cameras, not justice. I think that was the problem with the hearing, Too many republicans were looking ahead to 2024 and tried to step on Judge Jackson to get there. None of the republicans asking questions about the 3 month sentence, mentioned that this young man was 18 years old which I think might have had something to do with his sentence besides the circumstances of the case that we know nothing about and republicans didn't want us to know. If there had been more news about the circumstances that were bad they would have told us but they didn't say anything else. Makes me wonder why!!!!! Norma Gould

BE March 25, 2022, 4:55 pm She also didn’t know an unborn child could feel pain at 20 weeks.

DL March 25, 2022, 4:11 pm That's what you got out of two long days of testimony? Where in our Constitution, does it define what a woman or a man is? This was a hearing for possible placement on the Supreme Court of The United States of America. Judge Brown-Jackson went to Law School, NOT Med School! She is a very factual person. The question had absolutely no validity to whether she is qualified to sit on the highest court in our land. Are you so naive that you think she is confused about whether she is male or female? Do you think that, if a case was to reach the Supreme Court, that required a proper definition of the different anatomies, that the 9 Justices wouldn't use a proper medical professional to define it for the record? Would you be happier if she had answered by saying "A woman has Mommy parts". I didn't take Biology in high school. I could never have come up with your definition. Judge Brown-Jackson is much better qualified than me, to define what a woman is. If you were at a job interview, with a major airline, and the interviewer asked you to define Chemoheterotroph, as part of the requirements for the job. Would you answer the question?

MC March 25, 2022, 8:50 am Did we not learn in around the 5th or 6th grade(when they gave us the ‘talk’)that a male human has XY chromosomes and a female has XX chromosomes? It is really not that complicated.