undefined | Better HN

Skip to content

Top Best Ask Show New Jobs

0 pointsMountain_Skies4y ago0 comments

There's an effort by activist to shame the use of male and female when discussing humans because it is an alternative to gender terms, which are ambiguous by design.

0 comments

5 comments · 2 top-level

staticman24y ago· 3 in thread

I don't think it's ever been normal to use 'male' and 'female' instead of 'men' and 'women' in normal conversations.

I don't think the comment above had anything to do with trans activism. It had to do with whether you sound like a creepy robot.

dragonwriter4y ago

> I don't think it's ever been normal to use 'male' and 'female' instead of 'men' and 'women' in normal conversations

It's common in deliberately dehumanizing contexts; you’ll see it a lot historically (in writing, we don't have audio recordings) in the context of the slave trade, it's used as distancing language by law enforcement, and “female” became somewhat common among people who talk about women-as-possessions from about the late 20th century.

psyc4y ago

It’s normal when they’re used as adjectives. Less so as nouns.

staticman24y ago

I think it's normal to use 'male' and 'female' when you have to specify species. "Male cats are solitery hunters... while Male humans hunt in groups"

Or when referring to non living things "Male USB connectors" or "Male protagonists".

But I don't think it's normal to refer to your fellow humans as male or female outside of those contexts.

At least that's what I've picked up via cultural osmosis.

You mean because it's used as an alternative, and the activists' point is that it isn't an alternative.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse