The Problem with Definitions

Possibly the most politically incorrect song I've heard in a long time is "I Enjoy Being a Girl" from the Broadway musical Flower Drum Song. Here are the words, for your skimming convenience:

I'm a girl, and by me that's only great!
I am proud that my silhouette is curvy,
That I walk with a sweet and girlish gait
With my hips kind of swivelly and swervy.

I adore being dressed in something frilly
When my date comes to get me at my place.
Out I go with my Joe or John or Billy,
Like a filly who is ready for the race!

When I have a brand new hairdo
With my eyelashes all in curl,
I float as the clouds on air do,
I enjoy being a girl!

When men say I'm cute and funny
And my teeth aren't teeth, but pearl,
I just lap it up like honey
I enjoy being a girl!

I flip when a fellow sends me flowers,
I drool over dresses made of lace,
I talk on the telephone for hours
With a pound and a half of cream upon my face!

I'm strictly a female female
And my future I hope will be
In the home of a brave and free male
Who'll enjoy being a guy having a girl... like... me.

When men say I'm sweet as candy
As around in a dance we whirl,
It goes to my head like brandy,
I enjoy being a girl!

When someone with eyes that smoulder
Says he loves ev'ry silken curl
That falls on my iv'ry shoulder,
I enjoy being a girl!

When I hear the compliment'ry whistle
That greets my bikini by the sea,
I turn and I glower and I bristle,
But I happy to know the whistle's meant for me!

I'm strictly a female female
And my future I hope will be
In the home of a brave and free male
Who'll enjoy being a guy having a girl... like... me.

A) I have NEVER compared myself to a "filly" before a date.
B) I don't particularly like talking on the phone, nor do I ever put a pound and a half of anything on my face.
C) I'm pretty sure that whistling at a woman has not been appropriate for quite some time.
D) I'm going to run out of alphabet if I keep going like this.

All in all, the song is catchy, which is why I put it on my Big Bear mix to listen to on the way up to the women's retreat. (I tried to eliminate any songs that talked about boys or love per the insistence of a certain friend of mine.) I started listening to the mix this evening while I happened to be talking to someone about the difference between men and women. It's funny to me when a guy friend tries to tell me "women are like this..." I guess mostly it's funny because I do the same thing, trying to peg men as such or such...a bunch of stereotypes. I heard somewhere that stereotypes are upsetting because they are based on truth. I don't know. Anyway, I was amused. And as I listened carefully to the words, I started getting a little more pensive.

What is a woman, anyway?

(Answers to come later...or perhaps never..)