It became problematic when misogynists began using the term female as a way to dehumanize women. These men feel the need to blame all of their problems on women while simultaneously believing that a woman will also solve all their problems. It's an easy outlet to channel their rage while accepting zero responsibility for their own actions.
News flash, every word is going to be used for that. You have use context and intent in every interaction, don’t try to change other people just to make your life easier from a couple bad eggs. Yeesh.
Pointing something out isn’t trying to change other people, but okay.
But it’s good to know there is a new red flag to look out for in interactions with women. Is that word okay? Misogynists use that too, which term is acceptable in this exchange? Nah I’m leaving this lol.
This is gonna have the Streisand effect, trying to pick the term you want is only going to fuel the wrong ones. It’s why it hasn’t taken off and why very few people know or even care. It’s hilarious that it’s a thing.
It's mainly a problem when it's the only pronoun they use for women. There are plenty of incel type dudes who only use females when referring to women. There is appropriate context when utilizing female, but it's typically used to delineate the sex of an animal, whether human or otherwise.
The reason they only utilize females is because it objectifies a person down to their sexual reproduction capabilities. Which within incel ideology makes women second class citizens.
It's funny to me because I didn't make the initial comment. I did reply, to offer an opinion, as did another.. however you chose only reply to the one person with "girl" in their name.
Editing to add that I see you did make another comment below, so I'll leave my original comment even though I am now mistaken in my reply!
What’s even funnier is, I replied to the parent comment and you responded to that one… and are now accusing me of only responded to a girl name, when that’s not even remotely the case.
Fuckin red flags every holy shit lmfao. Keep telling people to not use “females” so we can avoid interaction with people like you.
Well you convinced me. There are absolutely incels that when told some women don't like this, they actively choose to defend it at all costs. Fascinating! Keep up the good fight. Show those women who's boss!! Defend your masculinity or the English language or whatever it is you're trying to do
It's amazing how purposefully obtuse you are. I bet you actually believe the first sentence is an accurate reflection of what's going on. Who the fuck would care about that? Wtf. Lol
Your last sentence shows your cards. I didn't say any of that shit, dude. You literally have no understanding of my position.
You completely failed to understand what others said to you and reacted with hostility so I made fun of you. Then you reacted like a person that feels the need to defend himself against some perceived threat. Get a grip, bro
At least 10 or 15 years ago was when I first got informed about it. It's likely been problematic for much longer. Its really not that hard to use the word "women" instead. Usually when people refer to men they use the word "men", so it's only fair to use women also. Females feels a bit icky tbf. Like women are a different species or something.
The problem is when people use "female" and "men".
Male and female are sort of dehumanizing words. Great to use in science, but awkward to use in casual conversation. It's like telling someone "Your epidermis looks so smooth".
When you use "females" in combination with more appropriate word for males (e.g., "men"), you end up sounding like an incel or something.
And since people generally don't use "males" when talking about men casually, even just using "females" outside an academic context is enough to make it sound a lot like how an incel would speak.
So "females" isn't a bad word, but incels use it in a way that demeans women. If you use it in a non-scientific context, you'll probably end up sounding like an incel.
(All the "you"s are meant to be the "general you"; I'm not trying to pick on anyone in particular)
Hence, this thread where someone pointed out that the word choice might have unintentional implications, which triggered a few oversensitive incels who percieved it as an attack on their choice to speak dismissively of women.
For someone who insists that context is the determinant of appropriateness, you sure don't seem to be considering that women might have a different context for the term. XD
I was just giving you some context. It isn't some new complaint that's just popped up. It's also not a huge deal. You do you if you want to keep using the word "females" instead of women.
Re: the Streisand effect. Anyone getting excited that they've found a new "trigger" and choosing to use it despite someone else calmly suggesting that a different word is better isn't really worth any consideration.
This post was the first to be made. I think the other was made to get a rise out of "snowflakes" or whatever.
The thing is that this post isn't even shitty. The question is both fine and valid, and the OP hasn't done anything terrible either. I just like pointing out things to improve communication.
Ah, they're showing as being posted at the same time for me, 2 hours ago, but as OP posted the first reply there, I thought this one was a response.
I only meant that they weren't being shitty in the way that they used females. I thought that they were using it to bounce off the other post. I think that both questions are a bit weird, but valid.
I'm not always good at communicating online. I tend to forget that other people are not thinking the same thing as me :)
That's perfectly fine. I didn't assume OP was shitty. I was pointing out the "females" thing because he would get a better response by using words that made women feel more comfortable.