Is "female" offensive?
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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One place where it makes sense to use the word female as a noun is when an individual word like "woman" doesn't work. For instance, if there are girls and women together, neither "women" nor "girls" is appropriate. In that case, I think "female" is the only option. I'd be happy to hear if anyone has an alternative.
In that case I still try to avoid "females", instead I prefer using "ladies" or just "women", even if there are girls present.
Even if the girls are toddlers?
Just say "ladies" at that point.
It's not like it's hard to do.
Ok but what if they don't hold any land or titles?