People often ask, “well if womanhood is not defined by reproductive organs, then how is it defined?” And the tea is that you cannot define womanhood by what it *is* because that is not how language works.

Différance (Derrida) tells us that words are defined by their binary opposite. For instance, if u were trying to define the word dog you would have an endless array of related terms at your disposal, and those terms would also have an endless array of related terms and so on.

But ultimately the meaning of a word does not lie in its related terms. You understand what a dog is because you know it is not a cat, or a horse, or a cow. The meaning of words are differed.

So if womanhood isn’t defined by the terms we give it, such as uterus / vagina, motherhood etc. then what binary opposite(s) keep our definition of womanhood intact?

The seemingly obvious answer to what the binary opposition of woman might be is man (or any other gender). But that is merely a secondary binary opposition within the larger binary opposition of subject vs object.