• orclev@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Not generally, although ā€œpreachyā€ is. Saying females or women are mostly interchangeable, although using females in this case is an odd choice as thereā€™s no real reason to pick that specific word. Generally youā€™d use female in a scientific or medical context where the biology in question is relevant (E.G. when talking about disease statistics or similar). Saying women would be a bit more inclusive but since heā€™s being an asshole anyway not sure a little extra inclusivity is going to make any difference.

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Generally speaking, using ā€œfemalesā€ instead of ā€œwomenā€ is seen by women as an indicator you the guy understands them as little as if they were a whole different species. The Ferengi accent is palpable.

      (Saying ā€œfemaleā€ as an adjective about women, especially in a scientific context, doesnā€™t have that connotation.)

      • Shou@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Adding to that. Most papers refer to their population as x amount of mem and women age bla bla. Females isnā€™t often used to describe humans. Itā€™s just the internet trying to sound smart.

    • BirdEnjoyer@kbin.social
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      3 months ago

      Well, here heā€™s clearly using ā€œFemalesā€ to be exclusive and offensive, demonstrating that the term does, in fact, have that potential, is my point.

      It is kinda nice when trying to figure out other culturesā€™ taboos, that you can get something as cut and dry as ā€œthis word or concept can show up in a news article when politicians misuse it.ā€
      Kinda intimidating, but also a useful frame of reference, because then thereā€™s post like yours which specify that its context-specific.

      It can be really frustrating when you spend years tiptoeing around something, only to find out that the person you learned it from just had weird personal hangups or something.

      • orclev@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Yeah at a fundamental language level every word has implications. Any given word is less one specific meaning than it is one or more primary meanings with a whole constellation of associated concepts. Picking to use a specific word means one thing but its associated concepts also shade the surrounding words and sentence. The word ā€œfemaleā€ is not offensive any more than a word like ā€œredā€ would be, but it carries a clinical connotation as well as being problematic with regards to trans people and the trans movement in general. Depending on how itā€™s used it could offend someone, but with the right tone or context so could asking someone ā€œHow old are you?ā€. So itā€™s wrong to say in absolute sense that ā€œfemaleā€ is offensive, but like many words it can be used in an offensive manner.