After this “fun” little catastrophe of a thread concerning the use of the word “female”, looking at the comment section, it’s painfully obvious that the majority of Lemmy’s userbase are men. That’s not a generalization, that’s a literal fact.
“It’s just a word!”, “Maybe English isn’t their first language!”, and “Overact much?” seem to be the most common replies.
So let’s do what should have been done in the first place and ask women their opinion:
What do you think of the word “female” being used? Especially in the context of the linked post in question? When is the use of the word appropriate vs. not appropriate?
EDIT: I think the post linked got taken down. Good.
“Female” as an adjective describes gender.
“Female” as a noun is typically used by incel communities to refer to a woman as an object, not a person. In this context, it is either used to identify women as a sex object or to imply that her emotions/needs/feelings don’t matter because she’s not human. Coded language in English is called a dog whistle, meaning it’s a secret way for someone to say how they really feel when an idea isn’t socially acceptable.