Woman: If you can be as masculine as a man, then what makes you uniquely a woman? Is "masculine" the new "feminine"? What then is the basis for gender identity? Is it bodily? Is it "what's in your heart"? Is it cultural? How then do you define "woman"?

By their train of thought. ...a man cant think like a woman, and a woman cant think like a man... its masculin thinkin and feminin thinkin . if they could I think the world would be alot easier

I've never felt the desire to be uniquely a woman. Nor do I want to be a man. I would rather just be myself. To me, my womanhood is just a technicality, an accident of birth. I don't feel like I'd be a significantly different person if I had been born male. I realize that this is an unusual viewpoint, but if I'm honest with myself I have both masculine and feminine characteristics, and they seem to be roughly equally distributed. It's not something I cultivate, but it's not something I have a problem with either. It's just who I am. If who I am isn't feminine enough for you, so be it... I'm not interested in changing myself to fit in with someone else's expectations, nor should I be expected to. To answer the rest of your question, your sex is determined by your chromosomes. Your gender is what's in your heart. Most of the time, people's sex and gender match. Most women are distinctly feminine, and most men are distinctly masculine. However, there's a lot of variation. Even if we momentarily set aside the concept of transsexuality, many people of both sexes don't fit neatly into their little box. Some women are naturally more masculine than average, and some men more feminine. Sometimes to a great and very obvious degree, sometimes not. Instead of making them feel inferior and trying to force them to conform to the identities you might want them to have, I think it's better to just let them be who they are. There's no reason not to, it really does not affect you, or anyone really. Lastly, I define a "woman" as someone who self-identifies as female, whether said person is perfectly, 100% feminine or not. And that's really all you need. When you start trying to dictate how a woman should act, and who she should be, that's when you take away people's individual identities. It is perfectly fine for there to be a wide variety of personality types and mindsets among women. We don't all have to be identical.

The questions and comments you have asked/made make me think you see "strength" as a masculine quality. And therefore, any strong woman is seeking to be masculine. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are strong in our own way, not in an imitation of so-called masculinity. A way that is no better and no worse. Beyond the obvious bodily differences,(which are fairly apparent to the naked eye) I don't worry about defining women OR men as anything other than human.

I would say, since masculinity and femininity is subjective, that it's a mix of "what's in your heart" and bodily. I would guess you're speaking of masculine as a personality trait, and if you are, I'd say that personality has nothing to do with gender. But if you're not, ignore that part.

Generally, society informs gender roles by all those factors you listed. Everyone has a different opinion in identity politics but when you get down to it, I believe our gender archetypes are informed by the Oedipal and Electra complexes and our respective success, failure, and attitude to them. Features either behavioral or physical in nature are relegated a quintessetially characteristic of one gender or another. This is largely enformed these days by a uniform popular culture. As someone famous once said, how did we know what pop culture was before movies informed ever facet of our existence? The biggie is the bacon winner as a male one. This is why since women started donning shoulder pads and entered the workplace, our gridlocked gender identities have come spiraling downward in a glorious firery projectile. The bacon winner, the protector, the sole provider, the keeper of your safety, your creature comforts and well being. Now it's anybody's call. We're past women being the new "men." Basically, there are no more men. See: your Q about something being uniquely male for my take on masculinity. Women on the other hand are thought to want to be protected. They are slightly needy, impractical, erratic but at the same time loving, caring in a way only humans can be, and miraculous in her ability to produce life. This is why big strong he-men provide for them so they can come home and get their wounds licked and have pride that they keep their wife alive and all the their dependent children. And the woman is oh so thankful the man has saved her from doom and inaction. It's been said that the patriachry stems out of an instinctual hatred or jealousy of women having the power to give birth and seduce men while not failing nearly as heavily under the charms of men. Thus, by asserting their power over women and making them dependent, the men can forgive the women for their superiority because the men can control them. Thank GOD that's over and people can almost be WHOEVER they want to be. Woman is man is black is white is rich is poor. The only agenda pretty much untouched is getting younger people some RIGHTS before they turn 18. I should add, that for some reason, in the bedroom our progress as a society has been noticeably less drastic. Is this because our gender roles are informed by our actual sexual instinct and thus are more rigid? Maybe. All those years of evolving after having been ransacked in your village and gang raped might have informed our genetics. After are, we are developmentally speaking, physiologically different as well and thus react to hormones differently. That is your intro to Feminism and Gender Studies 101, everybody.

I am feminine but I'm not prissy. I hate prissy chicks who care about trivial things. "OMG I broke a nail!"