To find the word "female" demeaning

[LoraPiano]

I increasingly see women being referred to as "female" as in "that female over there" or "a female approached my husband" or "females like chocolate". I hear it from both men and women, but especially from the younger generation, and usually about younger women.

Is it me or this is a little rude and insulting? Like there are reducing them to their gender and completely taking the person our of it. It's not a female giraffe, or a female bird.

Am I old fashioned? What's wrong with just saying woman/girl/lady etc?

They’re having to do so because of the ridiculous situation around saying man/woman.

Can't say I've noticed that trend. It would sound odd to my ears.

Also, it’s SEX, not gender. It’s really important right now that we make a distinction between those terms.

It irritates me when used in a men-and-females sort of way, yes.

I'm fine with it being used when making the distinction between male and female in terms of our sex.

I first noticed this in the USA some years before trans/gender issues were in the mainstream. I don’t like it either. It sounds dehumanising to me.

I'm fine with it being used when making the distinction between male and female in terms of our sex.

Yes of course this is the right usage, I am talking about using it as a noun

I wasn't keen until men started calling themselves women. It's unfortunately needed to distinguish who are ACTUAL women at times.
No ambiguity.

I used to be on a personal development forum about 2007, which had a sudden influx of PUAs (Puck up Artists, or men who use various techniques to get women to sleep with them).

They all used to use “females” too and asked things like, “What attracts females to a man?” “Why do females expect the man to pay”.
They didn’t like being told it was objectifying or it being pointed out that we don’t have a hive mind.

So yes, I agree it’s objectifying. Don’t think it is just to do with gender nonsense though. It was going on in certain circles before thst.

Well, female dogs are called bitches, so probably best we don’t compare humans to the animal world.

it makes the person saying it sound like an Incel Ferengi.
But i get why some people are using it now instead of "woman". Perhaps Human Female might be better. But then probably not given the shenanigins around that.

I did it for a while in my early twenties. I felt too old to call myself a girl, and too young and immature to be a woman. So I'd just describe myself and similar aged people as female.

I don't like it at all now though as I've seen it used by young men a lot in order to dehumanise us. Mostly y those on the alt right. I'm not sure what the solution is really.

The gender nonsense has been going on for much longer than some people realise. But I agree there is a horrible overlap with certain nasty male demographics.

I personally am NOT going to play by the rules being forced onto us - I’m not afraid to call a man a man. That’s what he is. And no, that isn’t a ‘lady dick’.

(Conversely I also refer to women as women, because that’s what they are.

)

Using “female” as a noun (“there’s a female over there”) rather than an adjective (“she is female”) is a common trait in incel culture and is used to dehumanise women. This is because, traditionally, “female” was only used as a noun to refer to animals (“the females gathered by the waterhole to look for mates”) and female humans were simply called “women”.

It might also be a regional dialect thing, to a point. Girls at school all referred to themselves as ‘females’ when I was growing up and this was late 80s and early 90s. It was a kind of slang term. Felt quite specific to area though (north west England) to someone like me who wasn’t originally from that area.

Yes this - it does predate all the TRA nonsense, they just use it too because they’re mostly MRA

I hate it. Female is an adjective not a noun. Let's equate it to hair colour and you've got "blondes are stupid" and "that ginger over there". We know this is unacceptable and has been for a long time so why are people taking it up again!?

I am a woman. Not as keen on lady but it will suffice. I am these things because I am "female". I am not "A female". It's dehumanising to reduce me to a characteristic rather than my whole being.

I've noticed it far more from men than women and yes it is demeaning.
When you read the word in the context it's written in by these men their contempt for women shines through.

I hate the word female used as a noun. When I was a teenager I used to see it in online comments on tabloid stories about women 'this stupid female should get a job' type thing. It usually was a dead give away that the person commenting was a misogynist.

People don't seem to use male as a noun anywhere near as often.

Yes this - it does predate all the TRA nonsense, they just use it too because they’re mostly MRA

Urgh. So true

Very good point - at its core it absolutely is an MRA movement.

Female is just a word to describe the female sex. I would not take offence at it anymore than I would any other neutral one word used. It can make more sense anyway, ie. “Female friends” is better than “women friends”
i like it as a word too.

Yes I hate it. I’ve only known one person to use female as a noun in real life and she was a woman. Usually making bitchy comments about particular women.