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Is "female" offensive? (lemmy.world)

submitted 8 months ago by Trincapinones@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I am not a native English speaker and I have sometimes referred to people as male and female (as that is what I have been taught) but I have received some backlash in some cases, especially for the word "female", is there some negative thought in the word which I am unaware of?

I don't know if this is the best place to ask, if it's not appropriate I have no problem to delete it ^^

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[–] tias@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

It makes them sound like specimens, dehumanizes and objectifies them. Kinda analogous to saying "I'm taking my offspring to the movies" instead of "I'm going with my son to the movies."

[–] spikespaz@programming.dev 1 points 8 months ago

See I don't think that is wrong either. Technically accurate words are valid substitutes for orthodox ones, especially in a comedic sense.