When Girls aloud refer to the femininity as their Biology, is that Synecdoche or Metonymy?
Synecdoche. It’s a complicated question though, and partly because you use the word ‘femininity’. I shall attempt a quick (but inevitably ugly) explanation. Synecdoche is when a part is used to refer to the whole. So if the concept of “femininity” is made up of both biology (sex) and society (gender), then Girls Aloud are using a part (biology) to refer to the whole (femininity). However, synecdoche is also when the whole is used to refer to the part. And if Girls Aloud are referring to the fact that they are of the female sex by using the word ‘biology’, and biology is not just about sex but a whole host of other things, then they are using the whole (biology) to refer to a part (sex). So, as you can see, it’s not even worth thinking about. It’s definitely synecdoche though, either way. It’s not metonymy, where a word that’s commonly associated with the whole (but is not a part of it) is used to refer to the whole (because biology is not just “commonly associated with” but is (arguabl
