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Is "female" offensive?

I am not a native English speaker and I have sometimes referred to people as male and female (as that is what I have been taught) but I have received some backlash in some cases, especially for the word “female”, is there some negative thought in the word which I am unaware of?

I don’t know if this is the best place to ask, if it’s not appropriate I have no problem to delete it ^^

Niquarl ,
@Niquarl@lemmy.ml avatar

I personally would always prefer saying boy girl man woman over male and female. Whener I first saw it used it was always in a negative context like “young black male” in regard to some crime to give the opposite example. Just like in French I think it’s weird to refer to humans with male and female, although accurate of course, as I would only expect it in for animals.

Simon ,

People that say ‘females’ out loud in public are quickly assumed to never get laid. It’s okay to use when talking or writing about science topics and such.

LemonLord ,
@LemonLord@endlesstalk.org avatar

You can use it to compare humans with animals. It is often used in animal documentaries. You can use female/male as a name in general. Then you have it very clear in a little bit insulting style. On the other hand it’s not really insulting and nobody can expect from a second or third language guy to speak in a non-offensive style like US- or UK establishment people like to do. This would be racism. 🤡

deathbird ,

Saying ‘female’ to refer to a person who is female can sound overly technical or abstracted, and therefore a bit dehumanizing or depersonalizing.

That said, some people over-react, and sometimes it is more appropriate or at least fine to say ‘female’, for example if you were speaking in the abstract about something that spans between women and girls, or is specifically about biological sex.

But most of the time ‘women’ or ‘girls’ or even ‘ladies’ is going to be more appropriate.

What language are you coming from, out of curiosity?

Mnemnosyne ,

This is what I said to someone who asked a very similar question about the same thing a while back:

‘Females’ is, effectively, a ‘technical term’ you might say, that isn’t used in normal conversation. It’s used specifically in situations where distance from the subject being discussed is intentional. It is the sort of language used in police reports, medical reports and the like…when it’s even being applied to humans at all. Its use is perhaps more common referring to animals; it’s the sort of terminology you’d expect to hear in a nature documentary.

The people trying to push its use are intending to make the subjects - women - sound ‘other’ and separate and alien by referring to them as ‘females’. Not everyone who is picking up this terminology intends it that way, but the connotations are unavoidable because of how language works in common use, and therefore if you don’t intend it that way, you badly need to be made aware of it so you can stop.

Arfman ,

I guess it would be kind of like referring to another person as “human”.

"Hey who helped you with this?”

“This human over here, my co-worker.”

spikespaz ,

Friend, people will get offended by anything and everything. Didn’t worry about it. You just be you.

Fuckfuckmyfuckingass ,
@Fuckfuckmyfuckingass@lemmy.world avatar

I’d say it’s a tone and context sorta thing.

Dasus ,

Definitely.

[NOT OKAY] “Hey guys, check out those females!”

[Okay.] “There were seventy-five males and sixty females in the study.”

[NOT OKAY] “Gonna go out with my favourite females tonight” (unless you’re a girl in a girls night out and doing a comedic take on the bro culture)

[Okay] “The shoplifter was ~170cm tall, female, wore large sunglasses and ran surprisingly fast for someone in such high heels smelling so strongly of chardonnay”

spikespaz ,

Why is the third bad

tias ,

It makes them sound like specimens, dehumanizes and objectifies them. Kinda similar to saying “I’m taking my offspring to the movies” instead of “I’m going with my son to the movies.”

spikespaz ,

See I don’t think that is wrong either. Technically accurate words are valid substitutes for orthodox ones, especially in a comedic sense.

Dasus ,

Idk I’m not sure about the rules myself but I imagined it as a man saying that to a bro who would reference the first dude as “a guy” while still referencing women as females.

So essentially it’s just about consistency. For me at least. Either “man / woman” or “male / female”.

Idk I’m not the language police

tias ,

I think the people who “infected” this word just have the general mindset of human relations being no different from any other animals, e.g. they subscribe to how Jordan Peterson explains human behavior by comparing us to lobsters. They tend to take human ideas like trust and altruism (love, if you will) out of the equation and view relationships only as evolutionary transactions. So they probably wouldn’t have any problem referring to themselves as males any more than they refer to women as females.

some_guy ,

I’ve switched to Lady for a lot of descriptors that I used to use Female. And a lot more They. Or just a physical description, like the person with the dark hair.

Edit: I’m probably trying harder than I need to. I just want to accommodate people.

Zeroxxx ,

Ignore the idiots. We non native speakers are graceful enough to attempt to talk with them politely, that is more than enough. Appeasing snowflakes is not my goal.

spikespaz ,

As a native speaker, I approve of your opinion.

Grass ,

The problem is using it when “woman” is the correct word. If you say stuff like “the female at the customer service desk doesn’t know how to do her job” then you run the risk of being called an incel or ferengi, though if you don’t seem like a sexist, churchy, or maga-hatter, then you can probably get away with it by not sounding like a native speaker. Or just avoid all that like me and don’t talk to people because social interactions of any kind are mentally draining.

Mandy ,

im a female. im offensive. does that count?

ASeriesOfPoorChoices ,

a female what?

Mandy ,

yes

ASeriesOfPoorChoices ,

what ain’t no species I ever heard of. do they speak english in what?

zarkanian ,
@zarkanian@sh.itjust.works avatar

Some people think it’s dehumanizing. As an adjective, it’s more acceptable (“There is a female nurse”); it sounds a bit off-putting as a noun (“The nurse is a female”). There are some people who don’t like to use it at all, and that leads to awkward things like using “woman” as an adjective (“There is a woman nurse”)!

You’re probably okay as long as you stick to using it as an adjective, but you still might offend some people.

HowMany ,

Not with proper hygiene.

AverageKiwi ,

The basic rule of thumb is that anyone who gets upset with you using the word female isn’t worth your time. If they’re really going to get upset about you using the word female then they’re probably going to get upset about a lot of other trivial things as well and that’s not the sort of negativity and bitterness you want in your life.

Xer0 ,

Nope. Next.

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