Countless times I have heard people talking about women but addressing them as females, making derogatory comments and speaking about them in an extremely disrespectful way – not acknowledging us as a person but as a female. By doing this, they are taking away the human side of a person, and they are treating them as an object and as someone less worthy.
The terms
According to the oxford dictionary, the word female is defined as “Of or denoting the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs, distinguished biologically by the production of gametes (ova) which can be fertilised by male gametes.“
Essentially it has to to with the reproductive organ – people are addressing other people as an organ.
Whereas the noun woman is defined by the same dictionary as ” An adult human female ” the keyword here is human. The term woman incorporates the human side of it, which is essential when addressing a woman.
Here’s another reason why you shouldn’t refer to women as females – not all women are biologically female.
Prime example
Genuine conversation two guys were having in the table next to mine:
G1 – “Man those fucking females will talk your ear off”
G2 – “I know but just get her in all fours and she’ll shut up”
G1 – “Pump into her” he said laughing.
I don’t think I need to explain anymore how disgusting they were being.
As an experiment I decided to log on to twitter and search for the word ‘females’, and there was someone who said “these females are all over this bloke” (it was about how people were reacting to Ovie from Love Island), so I decided to reply and what I said was the following “Please do not refer to women as females.” and they replied with an “What are you on about?”, so I gave them the definition of the terms that I included here, and their response to that was “Shuuush”. I blocked them out of annoyance. I tried to explain something, and this person didn’t want to listen – now I’m saying person because on the profile pic there was a guy and a girl and the name didn’t give anything away either, so I can’t be 100% sure.
Now, of course, these two situations that have happened to me directly are quite negative ones, and I can only hope that if other people try to explain it again in the future, it will be more accepted.
In conclusion
If there is a word you can use when referring to someone that will not make them feel small or in this case just as a reproductive organ, why not use it? Why use a word that makes the other person feel uncomfortable, and less of a human being because at the end of the day, that’s what we all are – human beings.
If you are not sure how to address someone when speaking to them or about them – just ask what they feel most comfortable with. It is that simple. And it works both ways, for women and for men.
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