Why is it sometimes deemed offensive to call women "females"?

[U-122]

Perhaps you have a better memory than they do. Honestly, I don't always remember names, but I do remember faces.

But also, your words kind of contradict each other. You sit there and say you respect everyone, but at the next sentence you throw out assumptions and judge the hell out of them for those assumptions.

How do you know i sit here? Who do you work for? Who sent you? Am i being watched? I want answers! lol

 

[Sci-Fi]

It's just another word in a long list that people have used in derogatory ways to put down or insult those of female gender. It's harder to make the word sound "attractive" too, it usually just comes off as harsh sounding cause of the sharp E. Maybe we should start pronouncing it more like fem-ale instead of fee-male.

 

[TheRealCallie]

Maybe we should start pronouncing it more like fem-ale instead of fee-male.

That sounds like a beer for women. Lol

 

[TheRealCallie]

How do you know i sit here? Who do you work for? Who sent you? Am i being watched? I want answers! lol

The aliens and/or lizard people.

 

[TheRealCallie]

 

[Colster]

I find it offensive.

for me ''female'' is a definition based on genetalia
a female dog, a male dog
a female gnat, a male gnat
a female human being, a male human being

so in a conversation about human beings
as in
''women prefer a man who listens and who is caring''
''woman'' is a female human being and that includes all feelings and intelligence and caring and loving
whereas ''female'' reduces me to a vagina and takes away all that makes me me

That is simply a ridiculous analogy. It also shows your lack of comprehension of language and origin. Likewise, being offended, does not necessarily mean that you are correct, nor should you garner deviations or amendments, to appease your apparent misunderstanding.
✌❤

 

[ewomack]

I went to the all-powerful internet for guidance (I mean, where else do you go). It seems like "female" denotes a larger biological category:

adjective: female

1. of or denoting the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs, distinguished biologically by the production of gametes (ova) which can be fertilized by male gametes.
   "a herd of female deer"
   • 
     
   • relating to women or the female gender.
     "a female name"

But included in that definition is "female" as woman.
Whereas "woman" means a female human being:

noun: woman; plural noun: women

an adult female human being.
"a drawing of a young woman"

a female member of a workforce, team, etc.
"thousands of women were laid off"
a female person associated with a particular place, activity, or occupation.
"a Princeton woman was recently named the Young Lawyer of the Year"

It's a little confusing, but it makes sense. I guess being offended by it is another question. I have usually used the terms interchangably and have never been corrected or shamed for it. It seems like they are, for the most part, interchangeable.

 

[Colster]

My mother is FEMALE.
My ex is FEMALE.
My daughter is FEMALE.

WE ARE ALL BORN OF A FEMALE.

How a simple world can be misconstrued by so many misguided and ill informed, beggars belief.

 

[TheRealCallie]

^^ Actually, no you can't say that word. It's forbidden on the forum.

 

[ewomack]

Yes, that's the one word that my wife won't let in the house.

 

[TheRealCallie]

That the word my ex always used to call me when he wanted to push me over the edge. I mean it would literally make me go apeshit. I fondly remember the look on his face and how pissed he was the day it stopped working. It was such a relief to no longer allow stupid words to control me the way they used to.

 

[Colster]

Imagine if Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II Head of state of the United Kingdom, could not have ever be described as being female,

What gender fluid non-binary, LBGti-turbo definition should we apply to a regarded and internationally recognised FEMALE. Is the appropriate address "Her Majesty", or "Person who identifies as a woman".

Can we ask Jesus about his mother Mary. Historically immaculate. Poor Joseph did not even get conjugal rights. Perhaps Mary was the epitome of the modern strong independent FEMALE.

Mother Earth, Mother Nature, Mother ******. Ok, perhaps not the latter. But any definition of girl or woman, is merely a derivative of the original definition of FEMALE. However, a Mother ******, can still be a FEMALE too, it's a cuddly all inclusive definition, and as such, should be used more.

 

[Colster]

Ok, we agree to forego FEMALE, and woman, and the woman sign on toilet cubicles. Thus allowing men with sweaty arses, and huge great hairy scrotums, to piss all over the seat.

 

[Colster]

Maybe this is why the dinosaurs died out, somebody disagreed with Dorris the diplodocus, identifying as FEMALE.

 

[Colster]

Ships being referred to as female is a long maritime tradition. The idea of a ship as a feminine presence has become embedded in maritime tradition but the reason for it is cloudy. Some sources suggest it's because the Latin word for ship, "navis" is feminine, but this doesn't hold water.

 

[Minus]

I've also used guys to refer to women. Is that bad?

I do that for mixed groups, basically for an economy of words. Wondering if someone would eventually take offense, I went to y’all for a while but that sounded like I thought I was still in the South.

guy 2 (gi)
n.
1. Informal A man; a fellow.
2. guys Informal Persons of either sex.

It does appear to be a proper term for either sex.

 

[Colster]

Kubaba is the first recorded FEMALE ruler in history. She was queen of Sumer, in what is now Iraq about 2,400 BC. Sobekneferu Sobekneferu was ruler of Egypt around 1800 BC Hatshepsut Hatshepsut was ruler of Egypt. She was born about 1508 BC and she ruled Egypt from 1479 BC.

Like many FEMALE rulers, she is late.

 

[ewomack]

Ships being referred to as female is a long maritime tradition. The idea of a ship as a feminine presence has become embedded in maritime tradition but the reason for it is cloudy. Some sources suggest it's because the Latin word for ship, "navis" is feminine, but this doesn't hold water.

I had read somewhere that "ship" in Old English was "scip" and it had feminine gender (back when English still had gender). But, as said, I don't know how much water this holds either, but hopefully less than most ships. But it does make sense.

 

[Colster]

I had read somewhere that "ship" in Old English was "scip" and it had feminine gender (back when English still had gender). But, as said, I don't know how much water this holds either, but hopefully less than most ships. But it does make sense.

Ship => O.E. scip "ship, boat" Proto Germanic -skapaz (-ship), see Modern German -schaft as in Freund- schaft (friend- ship ). At this point etymonline forwards to " to shape " (the verb). This might be the weak point of the chain, I must say. * skipan (Ship), see Modern German Schiff (ship, boat)

 

[Colster]

Ship => O.E. scip "ship, boat" Proto Germanic -skapaz (-ship), see Modern German -schaft as in Freund- schaft (friend- ship ). At this point etymonline forwards to " to shape " (the verb). This might be the weak point of the chain, I must say. * skipan (Ship), see Modern German Schiff (ship, boat)

Old English (etymonline)

• -ship => O.E. -sciepe, Anglian -scip "state, condition of being,"
• Ship => O.E. scip "ship, boat"