BB Gandanghari's Definition of Being a Woman

Once again, Aruba is getting the flak for its no cross-dressing policy.  This time, it has a formidable foe - the beautiful and controversial BB Gandanghari.

Because she has called herself a woman, she will be addressed in this entry as such.

Her rejection story was excellently narrated by BB herself  in her own blog From the Bottom of My Hypothalamus  and it is best to allow her blog community to argue her cause. My concern is just grammar.

A striking proposition is found in these statements: "Certainly, I dressed up as a woman because I am a woman. If I dressed up in a masculine way, that would be the time that I would be crossdressing. But let’s discard all the labels, it’s not the issue."

In the comments section, she followed up this assertion with this:

"First, I'm not crossdressing. I'm not a man wearing women's clothes. I'm a woman wearing women's clothes. What I am right now is not a product of "choice" akin to choosing what food I want to eat. This is a product of self-discovery and whatever I discover is not a choice. You'll know this if you have gone through the wonderful experience of discovering your inner life. What I am right now is a manifestation of what's inside of me."

This confusion is exemplified by this anonymous comment poster:

"- Errr...wherever you got this idea from? Yes you are a man wearing women's clothes! You may have converted yourself to be GAY but you are NOT a woman, as you were born a man and nothing will EVER change that. You may 'want' to be a woman and dress totally like a woman but the sooner you tell yourself and accept that you are only a man converted to gay, the easier it may be for other people to accept what you chose to be."

And these beg the question, "What is the definition of being a woman."

The dictionary of course tells us that a woman is an adult female human. And, from a grammar's point of view, to be a woman should require one to have the female reproductive organs from the birth.

That is the literal definition.

And any commenter or reader who will read the blog entry from a literal and grammatical point of view will be confused and will miss the whole point.

BB Gandanghari is a public persona - a transformed media personality that is a fruit of life decisions. From the moment of her idea conception, she was already a woman. The man named Rustom Padilla exists now as a birth certificate and a historical footnote.

Perhaps such a complex life story is too difficult for security guards to understand. 

To be continued...