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Is "female" offensive? (lemmy.world)

submitted 8 months ago by Trincapinones@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I am not a native English speaker and I have sometimes referred to people as male and female (as that is what I have been taught) but I have received some backlash in some cases, especially for the word "female", is there some negative thought in the word which I am unaware of?

I don't know if this is the best place to ask, if it's not appropriate I have no problem to delete it ^^

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[–] Diotima@kbin.social 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Incels using a word offensively does not make the word inherently offensive, and by letting them reframe the word in their favor you're giving them power they do not deserve.

When using male/female to denote biological sex, the words should not be offensive. "Were you born malr or female" in a medical settting can be vital to treatments, for example.

Generally, though, people ought to be using gender.

[–] TGhost@lemmy.ml 1 points 8 months ago

Yeah agree. Its relative to my feelings