PREGNANCY DEFINES WOMANHOOD FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS, EVEN IF WE DON'T HAVE BABIES!

Only women can get pregnant and give birth

What is a human? The definition of human begins with us being sentient creatures, capable of thought. We are also defined as being bipedel and possessing large brains that are capable of thinking and expressing intelligent thought. That we are social creatures is yet another part of our definition, as is our natural instinct to organize ourselves into hierarchies upon expanding beyond a population of 30. Nobody would ever call a human anything but a human, regardless of the attributes used to describe our definition. When a human baby is born without cognitive abilities, we still refer to them as human. If a human being cannot walk, they are still a human. If a human being chooses not to be social, they are still a human being. If a human cannot see, hear or speak, they are still human.

When transactivists posit the concept that pregnancy and menstruation do not define womanhood because some women do not get pregnant or menstruate, it is as offensive a claim as one that dehumanizes human beings who do not fit into the definitions of what makes most of us human. Women who cannot menstruate suffer from a medical condition that prohibits their natural ability to menstruate, but they are still women. Women who don't get pregnant may be baren or make a conscious choice to not get pregnant, but they are still women. Men who never could nor were expected to menstruate or get pregnant are not and never will be women.

It isn't just about the fact that men cannot have periods or babies that makes them men - it's also about perception. Women are defined by menstruation and pregnancy because our societies correlate female bodies with those expectations. If a woman doesn't menstruate and cannot have babies, she goes to the doctor to find out why. And women who choose to not have babies are well aware of the subtle harassment we face annually from family members, friends and even strangers who want to know why we don't have children. Pregnancy, or the choice to not have children, differentiates the nurturer from the selfish. I should know - because I remember how many times I have heard people comment about the selfish woman who never had kids. I chose not to have children, so I guess that makes me selfish. I am defined by my choice to refrain from pregnancy. And the only reason anyone actually cares, is because I am a woman and women are the life-givers who are expected to make use of our wombs.

So tell me again that pregnancy doesn't somehow define what a woman is.....

Samiya David of Pakistan shows a photo of her with her Chinese husband

Samiya David was from an impoverished Christian family in Pakistan. Her family sold her into marriage with a Chinese man. Just two months later, she returned to Pakistan to die from mysterious causes that were likely due to starvation. She was a frail shell of her former self, and investigations later uncovered that many of the 629 known women who were sold to China had endured rampant abuses, including being sold into prostitution. Whenever family members asked Samiya what happened, she would say she didn't want to talk about it. The fact that she didn't have any known babies may be linked to why she was brutally abused and wound up dead at the young age of 37. Could it be that in Samiya Davids case, the inability to get pregnant translated into a tortured and brutal death?

But why were these women sold into these sham marriages? First, let's be honest about what these women were sold into - lives of submission, forced marriage, forced rape and forced pregnancy. And why?

This harkens back to China's one child policy that resulted in sex-select abortions of female fetuses and outright infanticide of female babies. None of those fetuses could self-identify as male fetuses for reasons of survival, and none of those female babies could self-identify out of femicide. The oppressed have never enjoyed such a rich choice. The fact that a male-dominant and male-worshipping culture cleansed itself of their female population meant men had no access to marriage partners. This resulted in bride-trafficking of voiceless and powerless women from 6 known Asian countries into China, to face lives of cruel submission, forced marriage, forced rape and forced pregnancy. These women were not guaranteed to have reproductive abilities, as it's impossible to know if a healthy woman can or cannot conceive and carry a baby to term. They were sold anyway. Over 629 women were sold from Pakistan into China, and not one "transwoman" demanded inclusion.

Women are defined by pregnancy, and are even sold like cattle because of the perception that we can create offspring for our keepers.

The next time someone says pregnancy doesn't define womanhood, SAY HER NAME. Samiya David. Never forget the cruelty endured by this powerless woman, and the senseless and torturous death she experienced. This should never happen to anyone, but it has happened to countless millions of women around the world, for thousands of years because of the perception that they can carry babies to term and nurture them after they are born.

Mehak Parvez with her Chinese husband. Parvez never made it to China, as she figured out something was terribly wrong. Pakistan is now cracking down on bride-smuggling.

Let us never forget that men who identify as women will never endure bride-smuggling, nor any of the many facets of oppression that occur around a woman's reproductive abilities. Men who identify as women will never endure endimitriosis or painful period cramps. They will never have to make a decision about who the doctor should save, (baby or mother) should they bleed to death prior to giving birth due to a medical condition called placenta previa. They will never die during childbirth, nor suffer from post-pardum depression. Never forget the countless women who were placed in sanitariums to die in isolation becuase they were suffering from post-pardum depression before anyone knew what it was.

Let us never forget the women who were placed in insane assylums or the magdalene laundries for having sex before marriage, even when they were raped. Let us never forget the women who had to endure virginity tests before being married, or the women who have undergone surgeries to re-attach their hymens for fear of being outed as "ruined" if they didn't bleed on their wedding night. In ancient times, women carried animal blood to their wedding chamber in case they didn't bleed, because blood was proof of virginity and consummation. Remember all of these things, the next time someone claims menstruation and pregnancy do not a woman make. Women have been oppressed because of both of these things, for thousands of years.

And there is no sign that anything is about to change.