Féminas, fetos y felaciones: Apuntes etimológicos

The etymological examination of the words 'hombre' and 'mujer', the two terms which in Spanish-speaking societies have traditionally polarised human sexuality, shows two clear tendencies in that language and those closest to it. On the one hand, the notion of man tends to become universalised, to occupy a central and very positively connoted semantic position. On the other hand, the idea of woman is surrounded by very specific and instrumental conceptions: her mammary function, her role as wife within the family and her role as housewife, while her only universal connotation seems to be the condition of the weaker sex.