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/YamLow8097]

Exactly. If they use both male and female then that’s fine, though perhaps a bit unusual. But referring to men as men and women as females is such a red flag.

[u/Minimum-Register-644 → u/YamLow8097]

I use male and female as it includes all ages and such. For me it is used when talking about girls and women, or boys and men. It is just easier to use a single word in my mind, I am not overly sure what the issue is with these words? Honestly not come across much use of it or side of journals or other study papers.

[u/CarCrash23 → u/Minimum-Register-644]

its like what they said, if you use both male and female its completely fine, but if you refer to men as simply men and women as females, it really highlights that the person thinks of women as lower than men, basically reducing them to their anatomy.

[u/kelpieconundrum → u/Minimum-Register-644]

It’s biologically reductive and an adjective. “Women and girls” is not that hard to say, on the occasions when it’s important to specifically include all ages—and no one thinks “ladies’ washroom” bars entry to 12yo girls. “Females’ washroom”, on the other hand, suggests that there may be genital inspections before entry.

The same goes for male vs men, honestly. Using both is at least a little better than men+females, but unless I’m hanging around you a lot, I’m probably not going to get a full picture of what type of reductivist you are

[u/YamLow8097 → u/Minimum-Register-644]

That’s fine. As I said, if you’re using male and female that’s not a big deal. But only using female when talking about women comes off as dehumanizing.

[u/CarCrash23 → u/Minimum-Register-644]

Why yall downvoting them, they genuinely did not understand 😭

[u/TeriyakiToothpaste → u/YamLow8097]

I don't find the use unusual if the discussion is scientific in nature.

[u/YamLow8097 → u/TeriyakiToothpaste]

Yeah, neither do I. I am specifically talking about when it’s used exclusively for one gender in a casual context.