My Aunt Pam gets annoyed when people call cats “boys” or “girls.” It never used to bother me until she pointed it out, but now I totally understand where she’s coming from. The cats, she argues, should be referred to as “female” and “male” because they’re animals.
In the past year or two, more and more people have started calling women and girls “females” outside of conversations about biology and reproduction.
To put it simply, I’m not a fan. And truthfully, I find it pretty sexist.
In particular, I saw a guy I follow on Twitter go on a rant defending himself against people offended by his usage of the word “female” in reference to women. He didn’t understand why it’s degrading to call women females, because he wasn’t taking into consideration the difference in definition between the two.
I’m a woman. I’m also female. The two words have similar meanings but they are absolutely not synonymous.
Words like “man” and “woman” or “girl” and “boy” encompass our humanity into their definition—it relates to the cultural or learned significance of sex, masculinity and femininity. “Female” and “male,” on the other hand, are words that simply refer to our sex, and the ways in which our bodies contribute to reproduction. The fact of the matter is, someone with male sex organs might identify as female and vice versa.
It’s hard to argue that women and girls aren’t sexualized and objectified in a pretty wide range of day-to-day encounters. We weren’t allowed to wear certain clothes to school because teachers and administrators were afraid that boys wouldn’t be able to contain themselves. 19% of women experience some kind of sexual assault in college and one out of every six women are victims of attempted or completed rape.
Referring to women with a word that strictly describes them in a sexual way, like female does, is not only a extension of the problem but it also perpetuates it.
All in all, I think the way people have begun using the word “female” is no different than using the word bitch. We don’t think about the word “bitch” as meaning a female dog right away anymore, but that’s the dictionary definition. To call a woman a "bitch" is to sexualize her because it doesn’t take into consideration her gender, just her sex.
Some people, I guess, have no problem calling women "bitches". I’ve certainly heard plenty of people of all genders use it.
But if you wouldn’t, you probably shouldn’t say “female” as a substitute—‘cause it’s equally disrespectful.
