Here’s my two cents. It’s hard for people to keep up with the euphemism treadmill. There was a time when the word “female” didn’t have the negative connotation that it does now mostly thanks to co-opting by incels. It should also be stated that the word “male” doesn’t have the same negative connotations and it’s similar to how there’s slurs for black people but none for white people.

So why do people find “female” offensive? Well for starters it’s dehumanizing. Women is a less academic term and female implies some biological essentialism. I think the crux as to why it’s a big deal now is that women do not refer to themselves as females in the manner that men do. Men do not think of themselves as males, they do not call other men males, men call themselves men. male and female are simply outdated terms.

I suspect one day as society moves towards a more genderqueer position men and women will become unacceptable to say too. Idk. Like I think we need to acknowledge that there is such thing as a euphemism treadmill, that languages change, words become offensive or nonoffensive over time, and like all we can do in order to be a fucking decent human bean is to conform to society’s standards as to what is acceptable as according to the treadmill. Unless it’s some shit like calling the homeless, the unhoused. Then in those specific instances we got to run against the treadmill. But in this specific instance, we need to run with the treadmill on this one. Nothing feels better than conforming with society.

  • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Pro-tip:

    Never correct a person who refers to women as “females”

    Don’t ever teach misogynists how to refine their language and to develop a more socially-acceptable way of concealing their attitudes.

    Let them throw up those red flags immediately so that people can immediately avoid chuds who use this language.

    shit like calling the homeless, the unhoused

    I have a strong preference for “rough sleepers” because there are people who are in temporary housing, that are couch surfing etc. which don’t strictly fit into the term homeless but who experience precarious (and typically inadequate) housing and because some people consider places home, such as their cars (sometimes by preference), and devaluing what a person calls home because it doesn’t meet my personal definition of a home is kinda shitty whereas acknowledging that their home may be precarious or inadequate without erasing the fact that it’s home to them, I think, is preferable.

    /rant

      • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        We’ve moved away from that here to “unhoused” which is likely politically-motivated to narrow the scope of who faces inadequate and unstable housing to exclusively the people who are out on the streets tonight.

        So, y’know, if you’ve got a couch to crash on for this week then it’s basically a screw you: you’re totally fine and we’re not going to consider you kinda deal.

  • Othello [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    its not incels my parents did that, and only when talking about women they dont like. Female is just what you say when you cant say bitch. also women do this too, women can also be misogynistic. my mom only called the women she hated at her job females “those females are always gossiping” “females cant get along, they all love drama” but her friends were girls or ladies.

  • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    The “you sound like a ferengi” insult in response to people saying Feeeeeeeeeeeemale has brought us to this point. It has singlehandedly been a phenomenally effective tool in pushing people into seeing negativity in the word and has done most of the heavy lifting.

        • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          Slurs actually harm people.

          Nobody has ever been harmed by the word cracker because it holds none of the history of oppression that real slurs have behind them. When a white person hears the word cracker it washes off them like water, it is a completely different experience to a transgender person hearing one of their many slurs.

          It’s not a slur. It could become one if white people ever become oppressed, but that seems rather unlikely.

  • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    You could be correct about times changing. A few years ago I was reading research papers on various topics, and words like r#####d and n####o were used with full seriousness. Even if it’s silly that it came to this, it’s what it is, and there’s no point fighting it.

    • appel@whiskers.bim.boatsEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      The r word does actually have a meaning, often in scientific literature, the definition I found was: to make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede.

      I’ve seen used rarely in evolutionary biology, a professor I knew used to love saying “we (humans) are retarded corals” which refers to all bilaterians (animals with bilateral symmetry) evolving from a regression where corals would stay in their juvenile state, which is basically like a plankton. However, now that I think about it, I have sneaking suspicions he actually just liked shouting that in a lecture hall. Even the idea of saying the world I find unpleasant. You also have the case where it used in a similar way to “repellent”, eg. “This chair is made from fire r****dant fabric.” I do definitely think it is a bit archaic and there are much nicer terms without all of the baggage that can be used instead.

      The n word on the other hand, I had no idea was still being used.