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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 ^^

IanAtCambio ,

It depends on if you’re handsome or not

Omega_Haxors ,

Learn what consent is and then have your mom sign you up for therapy.

TGhost , (edited )
@TGhost@lemmy.ml avatar

For me, As non native English speaker too, its aggressive .

BruceTwarzen ,

Lol what the fuck?

TGhost ,
@TGhost@lemmy.ml avatar

You don’t accept that we are not animals ? Female is offensive and used by sigmas and incels 💁

Diotima ,
@Diotima@kbin.social avatar

Incels using a word offensively does not make the word inherently offensive, and by letting them reframe the word in their favor you're giving them power they do not deserve.

When using male/female to denote biological sex, the words should not be offensive. "Were you born malr or female" in a medical settting can be vital to treatments, for example.

Generally, though, people ought to be using gender.

TGhost ,
@TGhost@lemmy.ml avatar

Yeah agree. Its relative to my feelings

idiomaddict ,

I interpreted your initial comment as calling OP’s English out, tbh.

TGhost ,
@TGhost@lemmy.ml avatar

Thanks, did an edit.

idiomaddict ,

I’m sorry English is awful, but it’s much clearer now :)

Cowbee ,
@Cowbee@lemmy.ml avatar

It’s dehumanizing. Use woman, girl, person.

imkali ,

This explains it pretty well callmebymygender.top

snooggums ,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

Explains it well for adults, but it doesn’t give cover children or groups that include children and adults.

doublejay1999 ,
@doublejay1999@lemmy.world avatar

It’s not negative per se , but quite impolite, not least because a woman is so much more than her gender.

quindraco ,

Female as an adjective is inoffensive everywhere, but you will run into problems in some contexts because its definition is currently in flux and different people will mean different things by it.

Female as a noun has the same changing definition deal, and also some online misogynists use it as a pejorative. It isn’t one, but they use it as one. As a corollary, some others on the internet have chosen to be offended by the term.

Lath ,

Anything can be offensive in the corresponding context.

I mean, I didn't know "orange" could be offensive, but then Trump showed up.

Colour_me_triggered ,

My daughter can be pretty offensive. Quite the potty mouth for an 8 year old.

Norgur ,

Let me break down the explanations given, because most of them boil down to this:

As a noun, yes, because it's mainly used in biology like that ("A hawk female") and thus can come off as dehumanizing. As an adjective: No ("A female cashier", "A male cashier")

PonyOfWar , (edited )

Depends entirely on how you use it. There are many perfectly valid uses for the word, like in science or on a checkbox where you select your gender. The point where it can get offensive is when referring to individuals or groups of women as “females” where you could instead just use “women”. It’s language often used by incels and the like.

Titou , (edited )

I think it’s because it’s mostly used by “sigma male” seing womens as objects(not sure thought, but that’s what i’ve seen).

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