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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[–] [email protected] 71 points 8 months ago (3 children)

And to go out of your way to avoid saying “woman” makes you sound like some kind of incel weirdo, and you don’t want that.

I'd just like to emphasise this. It's not that using a different term is intrinsically bad, it's just that the people who tend to do it are not cool and you don't want to look like you're associated with them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

When I was growing up, saying woman was offensive, because it made people feel old. So we would say "girl". But now It's flipped. Saying "girl" makes people feel too young, apparently.

I'm still kind of adjusting. The word "woman" still feels icky to me because I was berated for saying it as a kid.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Huh, interesting. Which generation are you from, out of curiosity?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

I'm a millennial. It could also have been regional as well, I have no clue.