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.
It’s funny, because in German, you can’t really do the equivalent to “females”, but some men go to the opposite extreme and call women “Damen” (roughly equal to “ladies”). They tend to present this as being meant to be polite and flattering but it always rubs me the wrong way. Partly because it’s often used by men with questionable opinions about women. And partly because I want to be seen as just a normal woman not some dainty, elegant, always polite picture of perfection.
Though women seem to be divided on whether they mind it or not. I just don’t get what’s so hard about using “women”, especially if you used “men” in the same sentence (or would use it if it was addressed to men). You don’t have to either talk about them like you would about a female animal or like we’re all some unattainable beings.
A German friend of mine whom I met through a language class also talked to me about the outdated use of “Fraulein” when talking/referring to women. I was not super familiar with the German language, so it was definitely interesting!