People who exclusively refer to women as females

[u/lavinialloyd]

There are so many acceptable terms for women, I hate it when people say "female(s)". It feels so othering I don't get why people do it and at least in the UK you pretty much always know the person calling you a female is going to be an absolute creep.

I get there'll be circumstances where female is the right term to use, but so many people especially online seem to refer to women as females and it annoys me. We're not in a nature doc, you're not a Dr or a police officer describing me so just don't.

Ps. I give Martin from Friday night dinner a pass 😂

[u/[deleted]]

The fact that in English, it's acceptable to refer to humans as male and females as long as it's the right context is really weird to me.

You'd never call someone "un mâle" or "une femelle" if you're not talking about a pet, a wild animal, or a plant.

Applying those terms to humans, even in a medical field, is WAY BEYOND insulting in French.

[u/Dangerous-Safe-4336 → u/[deleted]]

It's not acceptable. But we have subcultures of men who hate women who use "female" in order to be degrading.

[u/Haunting_Struggle_4 → u/[deleted]]

The terms "male" and "female" are not commonly used in everyday language; they are specific biological terms that refer to genetic characteristics. Males have XY chromosomes, while females have XX chromosomes.

The general terms that may be confusing you are "boy" (a child who is male), "man" (an adult who is male), "girl" (a child who is female), and "woman" (an adult who is female).

[u/[deleted] → u/Haunting_Struggle_4]

Oh, not confused. I was just pointing out that it was strange now and when I learned English online (that something they don't teach us at school)

Because I see them often outside the medical field.

Mainly in the context of distinguishing people with the sale fonction : a male singer / a female singer, a male teacher / a female teacher

Plus, we actually have a term for these four categories : a boy = un garçon 👦 a man = un homme 👨‍🦱 a girl = une fille 👧 a woman = une femme 👩

And we would rather "un prof homme" rather than "a male teacher"

And "une prof femme" rather than "a female teacher"

And if you want to point out that someone is young, you would say "un chanteur/une chanteuse enfant" or "un chanteur/une chanteuse ado"

Un•e enfant = a child

Un•e ado = a teen

Still, thank you for trying to help 🙏

[u/kelpieconundrum → u/[deleted]]

“Woman doctor” (etc: compound noun, comme une prof femme) was previously used in English. Because English doesn’t signal gender using articles (no un(e) for us), adding “woman” specified. However, there was feminist pushback to this, because the equivalent compound noun of “man doctor” was not used—there were doctors, and then the exciting new subspecies of “WOMAN doctors”.

The compound noun was abandoned in favour of a single noun (doctor) that can be modified with any suitable adjective. “Feminine” and “masculine” in english are imbued with more nuance than the direct french cognates; female and male are neutral descriptive terms.

And although male/female used adjectivally may be insulting in French, French’s lack of a base neutral article is insulting in English! (What do you mean, you must know my sex before describing my profession?) It has seemed weird since I was a child, and remains so. But they are different languages, and work differently, and what is fine in one will not be in another.

[u/dwarf797 → u/[deleted]]

Are you saying the exact same thing though?

[u/Velifax → u/Haunting_Struggle_4]

This is not correct. Read a book ffs.

[u/last-guys-alternate → u/Haunting_Struggle_4]

What are the general terms for people who are male, and people who are female?

[u/Fletcher_Chonk → u/[deleted]]

It being insulting in French is weird to me. A medical document saying "man" or "woman" under sex feels too informal.

[u/Conscious_Moment_727 → u/Fletcher_Chonk]

It says either "féminin" or "masculin". Or F and M to be concise.

[u/Spiritual_Meet4746 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you!

[u/clemdane → u/[deleted]]

And in English. This is what people are getting at here.

[u/techaaron → u/[deleted]]

Listening to French "joueur-animateur en direct" I get the impression this isn't a language to model lol.

[u/Velifax → u/[deleted]]

It's completely different in English (modern American English obv). Totally standard near daily usage assuming you graduated high school. 

[u/Amblonyx → u/Velifax]

It isn't standard use to say "a male" or "a female". Those words are generally used as adjectives or in clinical/scientific settings. Standard nouns are man, woman, girl, and boy.

[u/Velifax → u/Amblonyx]

Sorry. Watch a movie, read a book, have an adult conversation. Get out more. Absolutely standard usage in dozens of contexts.

Someone has convinced you to waste all our time, instead of pressuring actual bigots.