this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2024
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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 ^^

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[โ€“] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (6 children)

Male and female are biological terms. Mostly "man/woman" are more appropriate unless you're specifically talking about biological sex. Particularly since a certain bunch of people is now using "females" with a bit of underlying vitriol, it'd be a good idea to stay away from it.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (5 children)

What is a good term when you don't want to exclude minors who are not yet women, like six year olds?

'Women and girls' seems awkward when talking about sports leagues for people of all ages who are female. "_______ sports are treated as second class by being given the additional description of girl's or women's when the sports played by men and boys is just the name of the sport." is pretty clunky, especially if there are multiple examples that need clarity on which gender's sport is being described.

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'd sneak a peek at some other league and do whatever they did.

When I say "avoid using 'female'" (specifically as a noun to mean "woman") it's not an absolute. The gist is just to not come off like a fedora-tipping twat. Sometimes it's used intentionally to objectify or demean "females" in general, or using the "woman/female" distinction as some sort of pointed transphobic shtick.

It's still a perfectly cromulent word as long as it doesn't get neckbeardy.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

You'd think so, but I have seen the opposite when discussing topics that were true for all ages.

Maybe I just tripped over the most vocal people who don't understand nuance, since one person actually said to use 'woman' to describe a six year old.

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