Maya Forstater

Rachel - I think if we didn't have a word for adult human females we'd have to invent one. But let's say you are right and there is no information content in that word, its not a real thing. Let's get rid of it. Let's pretend the word never existed....

... But then you tell me there's a new word "woman". I've never heard it before. What does it mean? How do I know if I am one? Or if someone else is? What is the definition?

Why are definitions so important? Why do we need to put people on pens/ categories? Why not just empiricallly work out what makes people happy?

Alice I really don't how you can take this position as a researcher. If everything is meaningless and there are no useful categories or useful buckets how do you study anything?

I don’t shoehorn complexity into tight little stilettos that don’t quite fit. Instead of making up categories and stuffing the world into them, I study the world as it is. I reckon that makes me a better researcher but hey ho...

So when you use the word women what do you mean?

I don’t start with definitions, I start with understanding how to increase happiness. And at the moment, that means championing inclusion, diversity, equality, however people label themselves.

So if only an otherwise undefined group of people around the world just stopped labelling themselves "women" they'd stop being paid less, being sexually harassed in public places and being controlled by relatives?