250

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 ^^

(page 3) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Fuckfuckmyfuckingass@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

I'd say it's a tone and context sorta thing.

load more comments (6 replies)
[-] TGhost@lemmy.ml 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

For me, As non native English speaker too, its aggressive .

load more comments (7 replies)
[-] gramie@lemmy.ca 6 points 8 months ago

One place where it makes sense to use the word female as a noun is when an individual word like "woman" doesn't work. For instance, if there are girls and women together, neither "women" nor "girls" is appropriate. In that case, I think "female" is the only option. I'd be happy to hear if anyone has an alternative.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] Lath@kbin.earth 5 points 8 months ago

Anything can be offensive in the corresponding context.

I mean, I didn't know "orange" could be offensive, but then Trump showed up.

[-] deathbird@mander.xyz 5 points 8 months ago

Saying 'female' to refer to a person who is female can sound overly technical or abstracted, and therefore a bit dehumanizing or depersonalizing.

That said, some people over-react, and sometimes it is more appropriate or at least fine to say 'female', for example if you were speaking in the abstract about something that spans between women and girls, or is specifically about biological sex.

But most of the time 'women' or 'girls' or even 'ladies' is going to be more appropriate.

What language are you coming from, out of curiosity?

[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 4 points 8 months ago

Everything is offensive to someone.

[-] Mandy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 8 months ago

im a female. im offensive. does that count?

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 4 points 8 months ago

It's dehumanizing. Use woman, girl, person.

[-] Niquarl@lemmy.ml 3 points 8 months ago

I personally would always prefer saying boy girl man woman over male and female. Whener I first saw it used it was always in a negative context like "young black male" in regard to some crime to give the opposite example. Just like in French I think it's weird to refer to humans with male and female, although accurate of course, as I would only expect it in for animals.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›
this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2024
250 points (88.6% liked)

Asklemmy

43917 readers
1722 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS