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

[applemac]

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

I find 'girl' when referenced to a woman who obviously isn't a girl more offensive than female TBH because it implies that a woman has to be kept in an infantilised state in order to not be a threat to the male ego.

I've noticed this too- I was thinking about it recently. Also when women use it about other women.

If you have a general idea of a female's age bracket, certainly it's incorrect to use the word "female"?

It makes the speaker sound clumsy and awkward.

Why would you need to know the age bracket to avoid using female? Girl. Young woman. Woman. Corpse. Sorted.

I completely agree with all of you who say it's dehumanising.

Yes 'girl' pisses me right off too. People still refer to me as girl and I'm 34..!

I still refer to some of my friends as girls though, and I'm 48!

I might say 'she's a lovely girl', or 'she's a funny girl' but I am aware that it's daft when talking about women around the 50 mark.

I think it's because 'lady' sounds ingratiating and twee and old fashioned, and 'woman' sounds a bit impersonal and formal and distanced.

I've just realised there isn't really a suitable female equivalent for 'bloke' or 'guy' which is the usual informal, chatty vernacular I would use for talking about men I know.

The National Gallery has signs to "Female Toilets" as well as to "Lavatories" so they seem to be trying to cover a number of preferences/prejudices/difficulties.

I have read a Men's Rights Activist exhorting other men to call women "females" because, apparently, the world is so favourable to women that just using the term predisposes the listener to advantage them. Female removes this perceived advantage.

Of course, the same guy says that he thinks every man should always vote not guilty in jury trials he serves on if the charge is rape, no matter how strong the evidence, because women mostly lie and the system is stacked against men and therefore finding a man guilty is to collude in that evil, misandronist system which pretends rape is common.

I've always examined statements more carefully when I see a man call women "females" since then. You know. In case.

it reminds me of Star Trek The Next generation aliens The Ferengi who always refer to "Fe-males". It is considered in their culture bad form for the fe-males to wear clothes and conduct business. Says it all really :)

yet on mn menz is used.

I have been struggling to explain why I think men referring to women as 'females' is odd. It just smacks of a man who doesn't really like, understand or have much experience of women. It's a man who says 'I think you'll find...' when correcting someone. It's a man who sees women as an alien species who he can't touch or interact with. It's a man who seeks advice about protecting his financial assets before he actually has a girlfriend.

Not All females are women

Comito - you've hit the nail on the head!

Genuinely interested: do you think men are discriminated against to a serious extent in our society? So a joky derogatory term actually harms their status, and potentially their ability to be seen as equals?

Surely "menz" is more akin to "wimmin" anyway, which complainants against feminism use just as often as feminists use "menz" against said complainants, in my experience. I've yet to see women trying to persuade other women to refer to all men as "males" in order to express contempt for them, collectively. So no, I don't really see it as equivalent.

I can't ever recall anyone referring to women as females in that way.

It does seem popular at the moment for some women to call their partner, 'My man' which always irritates me.

sleep I don't think men are discriminated against in larger society, quite the opposite. What I think has happened is that women have been discriminated against for so long that there's been a bit of a backlash but it's been along the 'oh, men are so useless they can't mop a floor' lines which is reductive and unhelpful.