While we’re on the subject of sex-related vocabulary, Holly of The Pervocracy reminds me of a tic that annoys me to no end.
I hate it when people call women “females.” I have one friend who does it because she was in the military and it was standard practice there, and occasionally I’ll say it when I specifically mean biological females rather than women, but 98% of the time it’s douchebaggery. Rule of thumb: if you say “females and males” it’s okay, but if you say “females and guys/men,” you’re probably a douchebag.
It really isn’t exclusive to misogynists: for instance the otherwise perfectly accessible bell hooks has the same completely annoying tic going the other way, and as Holly says they do the same thing to both genders in the military and, to a lesser extent, in police organizations.*
In the military or police it makes a little sense to put that layer of abstraction — it’s way easier to see or say (or, yikes, do!) when you can say something like “minor female down” rather than “a little girl is badly injured.” But whereas that sort of psychological separation might make it easier for soldiers, police, firefighters, or EMTs remain dispassionate in emotionally-charged situations, that kind of distancing is problematic in the extreme when you humanize one sex but “animalize” or objectify another.
At the very least it sounds alienated. At worst it sounds ominously creepy.
* While walking through a shopping mall I once overheard a mall cop pretentiously instructing a janitor that there had been some sort of disturbance “in the females’ restroom.”
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Great post, Fig! I’ve been
Submitted by Thaddeus (not verified) on Fri, 2010-07-02 08:55.Great post, Fig!
I’ve been creeped out by this use of “females” for years, but thought it was just me.
I dislike the use of “male”
Submitted by Holly (not verified) on Fri, 2010-07-02 12:38.I dislike the use of “male” and “female” as nouns, but I also find the words useful as adjectives—you know, a “female police office” or “male bartender” or “female blogger” or “male trapeze artist.” I was a little freaked out when I learned that the NY Times vigorously objects to the use of the words in any context, preferring the usage “woman soldier” to “female soldier,” for instance, or, presumably, “man friend” to “male friend.” But “woman” and “man” imply adulthood, while “female” and “male” describe only gender.
[I agree that “female” and “male” can be useful since they don’t specify age the way, say, man, young man, baby boy would. And I really agree that “fe/male firefighter” vs. plain old “firefighter” is unnecessary… unless, I guess, it was significant that, say, a female or male nurse was specifically needed attend, bathe, or dress a named female or male patient. But yeah, saying “police are looking for an adult male” is unnecessary jargonese — the human name for an adult male is “a man.” Saying “man friend” is just clanky. And also redundant, again, unless one is talking about meeting in restrooms or something. Thanks, Holly. —fl]
Makes me think of how much it
Submitted by L (not verified) on Fri, 2010-07-02 23:43.Makes me think of how much it pisses me off when restrooms (or shoe departments, or whatever) are labeled “men” and “ladies.”
I’ve never heard EMTs say
Submitted by Holly Pervocracy (not verified) on Sat, 2010-07-03 11:37.I’ve never heard EMTs say “male” and “female” except in their radio reports and other places where it’s official. The only common gender-based verbal tic is excessive use of “gentleman” to describe men—usually in phrasings like “this gentleman was urinating in a mailbox and when a police officer ordered him to stop he turned around still urinating and became belligerent toward the officer.” In general, calling a little girl a “minor female” in casual conversation is considered roughly as dorky as that instructor I had who would say “affirmative” and “negative” all the time. (“Want to stop at the noodle shop for lunch, Joe?” “Affirmative.”)
As for the mall cop—I’ve also heard bathrooms called “the female restroom,” with no possessive, indicating that apparently the facility itself has a sex.
[Hey, Holly! “...in their radio reports and other places where it’s official.” Yup. I agree it’s
nerdyofficial protocol, but since it’s used for both sexes it’s not objectionable. I’d love to know if anyone’s ever heard someone say “the male restroom.” Your “affirmative” guy might, but I’m betting that even for guys that deep into lingo-think way fewer say it than say “female restroom.” —fl]Yep—in the military, it is
Submitted by lisa kansas (not verified) on Sun, 2010-07-11 09:08.Yep—in the military, it is standard procedure, and it never struck me or anyone else as unpleasant in that context. In all others, I’ve only ever heard it used commonly by MRAs. ‘nuff said.