To have noticed that men who refer to women as 'females'

[applemac]

Usually turn out to be losers. And why is this?

I disagree it's a class thing.

I've only actually heard 1 man do it. My late father. My late controlling and violent father. Always sounded almost like he was spitting as he said.

I had an enormous rant about this at DH the other day. It's just wrong! I was coming from the viewpoint that the speaker sounds illiterate, but really take on board the points about misogyny. Certainly the young men on my course, who refer to women as bitches, use females if they want to be less offensive

OP - YANBU.

Plod always refers to women as "The Female"

Who's plod?

I also disagree with the class thing. I'm as WC as it gets and can't recall 'females' being used as I was growing up. It feels like quite a recent thing to me.

Our excusefor a police force

I also disagree that it's a class thing.

I think "females" has been used for a long time to imply that women are inferior, to strip them of their personhood and reduce them to objects. I believe that there has been a huge surge of people using it recently due to the rising popularity of people like Julien Blanc, Men's Rights Activists and the likes of The Red Pill and so on.

When put like this I hear, 'the female of the species is more deadly than the male.'
Which the statistics don't really support.

MIL refers to all women she dislikes/feels superior to (which is almost all) as "females". With a silent sneer. Quite noticeable. She refers to blacks the same way. And the unemployed. If she's telling you about someone who doesn't have a current job they are an "unemployed" as a noun. Apparently she used to refer to people with special needs as "disableds" before she had a nephew with CP.

Clearly intended to be dehumanising.

I heard it most recently on Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners. The episode was the one with the two male friends living together if anyone watches. The male friend said something like: "we can get this place cleaned up and I can get myself a female". Me and dp: "good luck!!"

That's the sort of person I can imagine saying it. Socially inept, and perhaps not realising how weird it sounds. Like a pp said; the dad in Friday night dinner!

Reading previous posts though I can also imagine it being used in a derogatory way, though I am fortunate enough not to have heard it in that context.

I use female, but I'm definitely not being derogatory. It's very commonly used by everyone in the area I'm from. I will also say "male" for a bloke.

I worked with a lady who called everyone a "human". She'd say something along the lines of "We need to order 500 widgets. Go ahead and source a human to action this.".

Andrewofogg please don't say "woman President". "Female President" is perfectly acceptable, because female works just fine as an adjective. But woman is a noun. Would you refer to Obama as "man President"?

StormyBrid I agree: but some people (of both genders) talk of the first woman Speaker of the House, the first woman First Minister of Scotland, and so on. I prefer female in that context.

Yes police always say "a female" and "females". Drives me crazy, and yes I do thing it says something about how they view women. It is an trend within the institution and says something about how the whole institution sees women. Individual officers are often only barely literate and just say whatever all the others say because they think it is the correct thing because they hear it so often. Including female officers.

KingJoffrey - Joe Lycett on LATApollo, I think you mean?
Who on Mock the Week, though - describe him physically, see if any of us can get it.

Oooh - a Mumsnet quiz

My dad did this and it was almost as if he couldn't bring himself to say the word 'woman', it was a taboo word for him. Same with 'black'. He'd be like 'the bl..coloured female'. I tried to explain it to him a million times but he couldn't/wouldn't get it. Absolute weirdo.

It is dehumanising and speaks of distance. If I hear someone say this I know that they either dislike women or are afraid of them. People don't want to say 'woman' or 'black' because those words are too powerful and emotive for them.

Serious question here. I do some public speaking. Some of the groups I talk to are are all women (WIs TWGs). I usually start off with "Good morning/afternoon/evening ladies" (on the basis that for a mixed group I'd say "Good morning/afternoon/evening ladies & gentlemen"). Is "ladies" in this case deemed patronising and/or offensive?

Toby, just miss off "ladies" or substitute it with "everyone"

What is WIs TWGs?

I think saying "everyone" instead is perfect, really. It's totally inclusive then.

I don't think it's a problem for public speaking. It's outdated, sure, but in place of L&G it works and is appropriate. IMO.

I also disagree that the "females" thing is class based. The one man I ever met who used it came across as very middle class/well off.

"Good morning everyone" or "Good morning one and all" maybe? "Ladies" always sounds a bit patronising, if you are a male speaker to a group of women, as though you think you are on a higher level than them.

Just my own feeling

I don't mind 'ladies' sometimes, depends on the context. But you could just say 'Good Morning'. My senior managers are all female, and I wouldn't address a meeting of them as 'Good Afternoon ladies' . But I might say 'cocktails, ladies?' if I was on a night out with them.

I hate this. Tay FM are dreadful for this. I just hate, hate, hate it.

I had an issue with a female manager who used to address an all-male group of subordinates as "boys" - although other men liked it. When she changed to "fellers" everyone seemed happy.

Bumbiscuits Your story is as good as your screen-name!