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I'm just waiting for it to get back to being about women insulted by being called "female"!
I know!
Okay - I get the people that are irritated by "female" being used in a grammatically incorrect fashion - it's sort of like being annoyed by the misuse of "there" and "their." So, other than the grammar use, can anyone explain to me what is offensive about the term "female?" I've often stopped myself from talking about my "female friends" in posts and changed it to girlfriends because I know that some people find it offensive. But why?
Okay - I get the people that are irritated by "female" being used in a grammatically incorrect fashion - it's sort of like being annoyed by the misuse of "there" and "their." So, other than the grammar use, can anyone explain to me what is offensive about the term "female?" I've often stopped myself from talking about my "female friends" in posts and changed it to girlfriends because I know that some people find it offensive. But why?
Okay - I get the people that are irritated by "female" being used in a grammatically incorrect fashion - it's sort of like being annoyed by the misuse of "there" and "their." So, other than the grammar use, can anyone explain to me what is offensive about the term "female?" I've often stopped myself from talking about my "female friends" in posts and changed it to girlfriends because I know that some people find it offensive. But why?
But in the case of "female friends" you're using the word as an adjective. Most people object to using "female" as a noun. because it sounds clinical or scientific.
Merriam-Webster's goes on to say that the neutral use of Austen and Brontë has faded away and the most common use of the word female now as a noun is to refer to lower animals. For example, if you were studying apes, you could say something like, “The females formed a small group to defend against the attackers,” (6).
It's my recommendation that you use female as a noun only when you are speaking about animals or writing scientifically. When you are talking about female humans, the favored nouns are woman and women. Likewise, when you're talking about male humans, the favored nouns are man and men.
Okay - I get the people that are irritated by "female" being used in a grammatically incorrect fashion - it's sort of like being annoyed by the misuse of "there" and "their." So, other than the grammar use, can anyone explain to me what is offensive about the term "female?" I've often stopped myself from talking about my "female friends" in posts and changed it to girlfriends because I know that some people find it offensive. But why?
Well using Djuna's definition could be seen as a little bit offensive, when used out of context that is! Hahah
"female: designating or of the sex that bear offspring; having a hollow part for inserting an inserted part; a female, person, animal or plant."
But in the case of "female friends" you're using the word as an adjective. Most people object to using "female" as a noun. because it sounds clinical or scientific.
1 a: a female person : a woman or a girl
b: an individual that bears young or produces large usually immobile gametes (as eggs) that are fertilized by small usually motile gametes of a male
2 : a pistillate plant
So, "female" as a noun being applied to human individuals is grammatically correct but the term has taken on associations with "lower animals" (an ideological notion that I wholeheartedly disagree with, but that's beside the point), which makes "woman" a more culturally suitable word nowadays.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fleetiebelle
But in the case of "female friends" you're using the word as an adjective. Most people object to using "female" as a noun. because it sounds clinical or scientific.
It's not grammar these fem..., feminine persons are getting upset over, but it's because they believe that referring to females is objectifying them and equating them with animals. Why do they have such a problem with that? We ARE animals, not robots, so just deal with it. The minority who want to get offended, keep getting offended, but just be warned I won't hold my tongue because of some silly hang-up I feel is totally absurd.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by onihC
This is getting too deep for just a way to call a gender: girl, woman, female, dudette, gal, lass, etc.
I wonder if men would make a scene as well if they were called "male".
We don't. But some of us are sick and tired of the male bashing that goes on. We're not all uncouth, hairy ape-man simpletons. I'm frankly so sick of that stupid stereotype perpetuated by Hollywood and the media. There are many screeching women who remind me more of chimps in heat, but I don't go on about that.
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