this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2022
12 points (100.0% liked)

Asklemmy

43939 readers
585 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I don't think "female" is offensive.

I thought it was offensive because some (supposedly female) users said it was offensive; but I didn't understand why my female friends used the term (female).

I found another saying that it wasn't offensive, and I immediate copied that belief.

LGBTQ+ politics is confusing …

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Redpandalovely@midwest.social 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Not to me, but unfortunately I cannot read your full post because I do not use reddit.

[–] Amicchan@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Its not my post; someone else posted it.

Here's the actual reddit post.

Can someone help me understand a post I read on r/TwoXChromosomes - It was a post addressing the term “female” and many of the commenters agreed that it was ‘dehumanizing’. It didn’t make sense to me because it’s a word that is commonly used and I haven’t heard anyone describe it this way before. Usually I can make sense of how another person is feeling by imagining myself in a similar position but I just would not feel upset or angry if anyone described me as “male”.

I’ll stop using it if it hurts people, but I admit it is frustrating when common every day words suddenly become wrong to say.

EDIT: I appreciate all the replies. There have been a lot of mixed opinions, but I do find it comforting that I’m not the only one confused by this. Here’s what I learned:

After asking some friends outside of Reddit, I’ve made the realization that the majority of women are not actually offended by the term “female”. It seems to be more prevalent on Reddit. After reading your comments I suspect that may be because the women of Reddit are more exposed to “incel” culture and the toxicity that comes with the anonymity of the internet. They are more likely to have heard the term female used in a derogatory manner and given it a negative association. I think the word itself is fine and those who are critical of it are really upset by the underlying misogyny which is something I completely understand.

[–] Redpandalovely@midwest.social 6 points 2 years ago

I agree. The word is fine, it is how it is used. Like the word male and plural forms of both words. The anonymity shows how people really think of others and perpetuates toxic thinking and treatment of others.