this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2024
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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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[–] viking@infosec.pub 2 points 8 months ago
[–] Umbrella8335@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I understand your pain. My home language doesn't even have separate words for woman and female, or male and man.

[–] sparky@lemmy.federate.cc 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What language, if you don’t mind me asking? I’m interested in linguistics and this seems like an interesting tangent.

[–] MinekPo1@lemmy.ml 1 points 8 months ago

not OP but in Polish there is no word for boyfriend or girlfriend, you just say boy or girl which is kinda funny. however because Polish has grammatical gender, you can say boy friend/girl friend and even enby friend, thanks to neoforms! (przyjaciel, przyjaciółka, przyjacioło)

though note that partner is also gendered (partner, partnerka, partnerze)

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

How do you refer to a female animal?

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I've switched to Lady for a lot of descriptors that I used to use Female. And a lot more They. Or just a physical description, like the person with the dark hair.

Edit: I'm probably trying harder than I need to. I just want to accommodate people.

[–] spikespaz@programming.dev 1 points 8 months ago

Friend, people will get offended by anything and everything. Didn't worry about it. You just be you.

[–] FatTony@discuss.online 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

How about: "The weaker sex" instead?

[–] dudinax@programming.dev 1 points 8 months ago

How about "the fairer sex"?

[–] Norgur@kbin.social 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Let me break down the explanations given, because most of them boil down to this:

As a noun, yes, because it's mainly used in biology like that ("A hawk female") and thus can come off as dehumanizing. As an adjective: No ("A female cashier", "A male cashier")

[–] Simon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 8 months ago

People that say 'females' out loud in public are quickly assumed to never get laid. It's okay to use when talking or writing about science topics and such.

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