re: woman, girl, whatever

[arethinn]

dancinglights brought up the term "lady" and its uses, and I made a remark myself in a comment to someone else about how I thought maybe people just used my name rather than a generic term if they needed to refer to me, but it actually does make me curious what word or words other people might use for me. Out of the following choices I think I would mostly use "girl" for myself (although as mentioned, I think I may be growing out of it). You?

[Poll #981789]

Comments

[ahril.livejournal.com]

When referring to you in conversation with Husband I usually say, "My friend tass..." because you are my friend first and, to me, gender is a secondary or even tertiary component of who people are for me.

When I was your age, I felt the same way about "girls" and "woman" as descriptive terms. In my mind, I wasn't yet a woman, but was outgrowing "girl". I definitely call myself a woman now though (which is for me more about female adult vs. female child than traditional man/woman gender roles), and honestly, bearing children isn't what really did it for me. It was just aging and maturing to a certain point to where I felt that I was finally an adult, that I had the confidence adults have, and was looked upon by my colleagues at work in their 50's and 60's as an adult rather than a "just-out-of-college kid".

The moment came a few months after I turned 35 (I'll be 38 this December). I don't think there was a specific event that triggered the change. It was just a slow and gradual thing.

It felt good to finally grow up, to finally be confident in my own skin.

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

"I usually say, "My friend [info]tass..." because you are my friend first

Aww. *warm fuzzies* Actually though, I would prefer this sentence construction too. That's why I gave the example I wanted people to fill in the blank for, since I figured many people might default to a relational term like "friend" (as opposed to general term -- i.e., something that takes "my" rather than an article).

"When I was your age"

...she says as though the difference were vast. ;)

[ahril.livejournal.com]

Well, "pushing 40" and "almost 30" are two entirely different things. LOL

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

Yes, but my mother is another 25 years older than you are, so that means the difference between you and me is only 2/7 the difference between me and her -- thus, it doesn't feel all that big to me.