I never really understood the outrage associated with using this word. I have no problem calling myself male, or being referred to as male even though I just identy as a “person”, tbh. People just want to be pissed off.
I’ve never seen “outrage” about it, mostly annoyance and eye rolling. It’s douchey at best. It’s usually the least respectful people (primarily men/teenage boys, but not exclusively), usually using the term in a derogatory or dismissive way against women, and often dehumanizing or objectifying them. It’s also similar to referring to black people as “blacks”. It’s just reductive, like that’s the defining feature of them. That may not be fair. May not be how you use it. But that is the connotation of using the term in that way.
For me “females” makes it feel like treating them as any other animal. While not factually incorrect, the term fails completely to convey the fact that my feelings towards human girls are substantially greater than my feelings towards any other animal.
It’s because the general consensus among progressives is that it’s typically used by an asshole in poor context. Nobody cares if it’s being used respectfully. I am not activating that the opinion is correct either way.
Many disagree with me but whenever someone says the word female shouldn’t be used I always refer back to using woman to define gender and female to define sex. Is it the best way to think of it; maybe not, but that’s how I always did.
My cat is a girl, is girl now offensive as it refers to “all species”?
It’s a ridiculous argument, based on some “scientific” basis of a word that doesn’t hold up in everyday speech and seems to stem entirely from Americans.
We use male/female all the time in Australia, it’s not an issue and doesn’t carry negative social connotations. Referring to a group of women as females sounds grammatically wrong, but that’s about it.
I don’t think that’s universally true. Most parts of Australia I’ve been to have the same nuance of “females” often being used by assholes in a demeaning way and seen as somewhat dehumanising in some contexts (but not all).
Still better than “females”.
Removed by mod
I never really understood the outrage associated with using this word. I have no problem calling myself male, or being referred to as male even though I just identy as a “person”, tbh. People just want to be pissed off.
I’ve never seen “outrage” about it, mostly annoyance and eye rolling. It’s douchey at best. It’s usually the least respectful people (primarily men/teenage boys, but not exclusively), usually using the term in a derogatory or dismissive way against women, and often dehumanizing or objectifying them. It’s also similar to referring to black people as “blacks”. It’s just reductive, like that’s the defining feature of them. That may not be fair. May not be how you use it. But that is the connotation of using the term in that way.
For me “females” makes it feel like treating them as any other animal. While not factually incorrect, the term fails completely to convey the fact that my feelings towards human girls are substantially greater than my feelings towards any other animal.
It’s because the general consensus among progressives is that it’s typically used by an asshole in poor context. Nobody cares if it’s being used respectfully. I am not activating that the opinion is correct either way.
Many disagree with me but whenever someone says the word female shouldn’t be used I always refer back to using woman to define gender and female to define sex. Is it the best way to think of it; maybe not, but that’s how I always did.
I do get why, woman is referring to human female. Female refers to a female of any specie. Still think it’s dumb to get mad about
My cat is a girl, is girl now offensive as it refers to “all species”?
It’s a ridiculous argument, based on some “scientific” basis of a word that doesn’t hold up in everyday speech and seems to stem entirely from Americans.
We use male/female all the time in Australia, it’s not an issue and doesn’t carry negative social connotations. Referring to a group of women as females sounds grammatically wrong, but that’s about it.
I don’t think that’s universally true. Most parts of Australia I’ve been to have the same nuance of “females” often being used by assholes in a demeaning way and seen as somewhat dehumanising in some contexts (but not all).
We don’t do stupid shit like say “woman athletes ” over “female athletes” like seppos do.
I can still hear my 89 year old gramdmother everytime i read that word