This one has always been weird for me because I was in the military before female became an incel term and we regularly referred to women as females. Female officer, female berthing, female uniform standards…
female as an adjective is fine. As a noun? Yeah I’m gonna stop you right there, buddy.
Navy? Shipmate 🫱🏾
Yezzir. 5 years on LHA 5 Peleliu.
3 for me on the Abe. Hope your doing well brother 🤙🏾
Okay, but depending on how “female” is said, it is often used in a derogatory way by incels and misogynists.
Good professor.
What’s wrong with using the term female? I really don’t know but I’ve heard that you shouldn’t do it
Nothing or a lot depending on use.
If it’s being used where “male” could/would be used all is well.
If not it’s often dehumanizing.
In my opinion, it’s more of a lab type word when talking about biology or anatomy.
But it’s not actually all that offensive. Women have so many negative terms used to describe us already. Female can stay neutral. And I will continue to use it.
People give way too much power to small vocal minorities. Don’t let incel neckbeards make another negative term to describe our sex.
“female protagonist” good
“I talked to a female today” bad
Short version but depends if you’re talking about a specific person(s) or describing the person.
the problem is with referring to women as females
It can be dehumanizing since “female” could refer to any sexual creature, not necessarily a human being.
So in the context of biology, female is appropriate. We may be talking about the properties of ovaries, the effects of high estrogen, the process of pregnancy and childbirth. We may be talking about human females, but potentially also just females in general.
But in the context of people, female is inappropriate, and it is better to use terms that affirm the subject is human: woman; girl; lady. A woman is (usually) a female, but a female isn’t always a woman, isn’t always a human, and so by referring to women as “female” you subtly suggest that their humanity is absent or unimportant.
Just checked the definitions and read some articles on the internet. Thanks I understand now.
It has the potential to be dehumanizing if used as a noun, because it’s usually a scientific word reserved for non-human animals.
Moreover, it’s use is often considered sexist because people will write messages such as “men and females” showcasing a double standard in which male people are deserving of enough respect and humanity to stray away from the scientific “males” whereas female people are not.
Generally, accepted usage of “female” includes the following
- as an adjective (ex: my female supervisor)
- if you also use “male” as a noun
- non-human animals
- military settings & forms
Simply put, it implies a lack of regard towards the subject as human. Saying «Female» over «Woman», «Lady» or «Girl» invokes images of animals rather than humans.
Same goes for men, but its a lot more uncommon and sometimes actually a positive, as «Male» invokes virility. Its honestly a weird double standard.
I don’t think I’ve ever been referred to as female outside of someone being creepy… I also haven’t heard men referred to as „males“ outside of bad romance novels either. You may now downvote :P
Bad romance novels or creepy “alpha male” influencers.
No downvotes today.
The only real crime here is that we haven’t upgraded as humanity. To refer to each other as “specimens” for true equality :troll.png:
