Tue, 2005-11-29 14:39
Ok, here’s something that’s bugged me for decades: people who refer to adults of their own gender as “men” or “women” but refer to their adult gender opposites as “males” or “females.” It’s really creepy. Male humans are “men.” Female humans are “women.” Failing to refer to adults as men or women when addressing their gender seems disrespectful at the very least, and grating at the very best. (Not that respect for one’s opposite gender begins or ends there, as Jill of Feministe points out, but even so.)
But this is a grammar question, not a political one. What, if any, grammatical terms would be used to differentiate between the general gender addess “female” or “male” and the more specific “man,” “woman,” “girl,” or “boy?”
Submitted by 489 (not verified) on Tue, 2005-11-29 16:32.
I'm not sure they're formally distingushed, except that"male/female" are primarily adjectives. Their secondary use as nouns is typical of English. As far as I can see, "man/woman" have the same grammatical position as "boy/girl"; the difference is purely semantic.
I tend to use "male/female" when I want to explicitly de-specify age or (more often) species. If you catch me using them unevenly as you describe, feel free to call me on it!
[Thanks, David. I agree it's not so bad if you balance the... cases? tenses? Gender nominatives? Whatevers! --fl]
Submitted by 489 (not verified) on Tue, 2005-11-29 17:02.
I know what you mean. it rankles me, too. Frankly, i have never heard male or female used except in negative connotations, and as part of a hip-hop sort of slang. As in 'I cannot believe what that nasty female just said' or 'All males are the same, etc.'. It feels weird to me, to be sure.
[The weirdest was when I overheard a rent-a-cop talking to a reporter about some kind of incident and he said "...then she ran into the female's room" while pointing out the women's restroom. I mean "the female's room?" No way he'd have said "the male's room." --fl]
Submitted by 489 (not verified) on Tue, 2005-11-29 19:35.
In the swinger community, it's so often that the terms male and female are used out of place. In a weird way, I think it is used to de-emphasize the humanity of a third party they seek to use sexually.
The terms "single male" and "single female" is used so often on swinger sites that I forget and then I use it, unthinkingly.
I do try use these terms as adjectives, in an attempt to emphasize gender in a partner as in: female partner/male partner. I emphasize gender here because I sleep with both sexes.
I need to stop thinking in "swinger" and use man/woman more often. I want to emphasize the humanity of our partners, we treat others with human decency and I get sickened when I see people treating other parties as "things."
I'm off to check my usage. Like David, PLEASE call me out on it when I'm guilty!
[I'll be happy to call you on it if I catch you. Also thanks, one's an adjective, the other's a noun. But really, as Buckminster Fuller said, we really seem to be verbs. --fl]