After this “fun” little catastrophe of a thread concerning the use of the word “female”, looking at the comment section, it’s painfully obvious that the majority of Lemmy’s userbase are men. That’s not a generalization, that’s a literal fact.
“It’s just a word!”, “Maybe English isn’t their first language!”, and “Overact much?” seem to be the most common replies.
So let’s do what should have been done in the first place and ask women their opinion:
What do you think of the word “female” being used? Especially in the context of the linked post in question? When is the use of the word appropriate vs. not appropriate?
EDIT: I think the post linked got taken down. Good.
In the context of the OOP I think it’s obnoxious, but people who baldly objectify women tend to be obnoxious, so I can’t say I’m surprised. I wish they’d knock it off.
“Female” is appropriate as an adjective: I need a female hose adaptor or My primary care doctor is female or Female cats don’t spray the way male cats do. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any case in which “female” should be used as a noun - except I guess it’s common in healthcare and law enforcement (though still grammatically incorrect).
It seems like “woman” is a hard word to use for some people. I’m not sure why. This also gets into the “woman” vs “girl” thing, which in my view is much more demeaning than “female.” We’re not children for fuck’s sake!
I should mention that some women aren’t bothered by “female” or “girl,” which is completely their prerogative.
It’s funny, because in German, you can’t really do the equivalent to “females”, but some men go to the opposite extreme and call women “Damen” (roughly equal to “ladies”). They tend to present this as being meant to be polite and flattering but it always rubs me the wrong way. Partly because it’s often used by men with questionable opinions about women. And partly because I want to be seen as just a normal woman not some dainty, elegant, always polite picture of perfection.
Though women seem to be divided on whether they mind it or not. I just don’t get what’s so hard about using “women”, especially if you used “men” in the same sentence (or would use it if it was addressed to men). You don’t have to either talk about them like you would about a female animal or like we’re all some unattainable beings.