Been a busy day of writing, so I’m going to keep it quick and dirty today and about women. No, get your heads out of the gutter. This is not becoming an erotica channel.
I have a problem with female.
No, you read that right. I didn’t forget the “s” on the end.
I have a problem with the word female. Not in general; it’s a perfectly good and necessary word. I have a problem with it being used as a noun instead of the word woman.
I’ve seen this practice before in past years and I’ve been seeing it pop up again here in there in social media circles and people seemed confused as to why calling women “females” is irritating to most of us who identify as women. There seem to be some confused young women, too, who insist they use the word male often instead of man and what’s the big deal? First, I’m dubious that’s your go-to word for men most of the time, and second, here’s why it’s a big deal...
I realize that male and female can be used as nouns. We do it with a lot of animals. Sure, we have buck and doe for deer, and lion and lioness and such, but there aren’t really a lot of gender-specific nouns for a lot of animals—at least not for those of us who aren’t scientists. And, you know, calling your female dog a bitch is going to not sound good to a lot of people around you.
But seriously, if you’re referring to a gorilla or a crow and you know the gender, you’re going to say, “that male there” or “look at the female.”
The thing is, though, for humans, we have those two very distinct gender-specific words and have had them a very long time. It’s man and woman.
Generally speaking, when people refer to humans as a male or as a female instead, there are being dismissive, whether openly or subtly. Especially when men refer to women as “females.” I almost never see an innocent use of female rather than woman. If the immediate reference isn’t meant to be insulting or demeaning, the man doing it likely has a history of misogyny and he probably never refers to men as “males” unless he’s calling some emotionally balanced guy a “beta male.”
It just isn’t respectful to call women females. If you’re doing it innocently, I would really urge you to stop doing it. And I don’t encourage women to adopt the same habit of using “male” like that. But really, stop calling women females. Just stop. I will give you a stank eye at the very least if you do it in my presence.
We are in a time when women’s rights are literally being peeled away one by one. Let’s not get into the habit of referring to them in a way that picks away at their dignity.
100%! The connotations of words carry a world of meaning. In addition to what you have pointed out, “female” and “male”imply a binary gendered world which is inaccurate. And we can make no mistake the emphasis is always on restricting the volition of any non-male. Further, the male/female dichotomy removes the clarity of adulthood from the terms. Removing women’s rights has always been about obliterating women’s experience and knowledge.