this reminds me of a mental pebble in my shoe, sometimes it feels like there is an age category problem, “woman” still feels too old/mature no matter how old I get and “girls” sounds too young at this point, “chicks” is my go to because feels vague enough but maybe I just need work on my vocabulary
Girl is a child. Woman is an adult. Young woman if it’s vaguely in between.
Female if you’re doing medicine or science.
The girl lost her doll. The woman paid her taxes. The young women got dropped off at the movies. The female puffin lays one egg per season and shares the burden of caring for the puffling equally with their mate.
I’ve been recently trying to phase my usage of “girls” out when referring to women, because it’s unintentionally belittling. I’ve settled on just saying “woman” when referring to an adult woman in general.
Of course, if you’re referring to a woman in person, you need to refer to her as “milady” and tip your hat. That’s just basic etiquette.
Speaking generously, I can see what you mean. But I think people only have this problem when they are used to calling people “girls” far too long. If you shake that bad habit, you won’t find yourself coming into conflict with these terms so often.
May I suggest the term “young women” as a highly respectful way to refer to younger folks. And if you are truly in doubt or referring to a mixed group, “ladies” is an alternative too.
I don’t recommend “chicks.” Some people are okay with it but many are not. A chick is a newly hatched bird, so this is quite infantilizing.
“Ladies”
“Ladies” can come across as sleazy, imo. And sometimes you’re in a situation where the class/status suggested by “lady” ends up sounding sarcastic.
“Gals” implies a level of friendship, and “dames” is too old timey.
It’s a tight rope walk of sounding too familiar/formal, implying old/young, or being insulting/demeaning… I conclude that we need a new word.
Just say ‘women’
To quote the earlier comment:
“woman” still feels too old/mature no matter how old I get
Yes, I read that. I also read your comment und you concluded (somewhat jokingly, I know), that ‘we’ need a new word for ‘women’.
My, now more elaborate, response to that is, that ‘we’ don’t need a new word, you should learn to use the perfectly cromulent available ones.
I think we often forget about “young man” and “young woman.”
When someone is too young to safely call a woman, “young woman” is quite a compliment and gives her the respect of an adult anyway. If someone is just barely too old to be called a girl, they will probably find it neutral enough. And if someone is much too old to be called a girl they will appreciate it as flattery.
I guess I can see some ways that “lady” or “ladies” could sound sleazy but I’m surprised if this is someone’s first or only association. “Lady” is literally a landed title, the equivalent of “Lord,” and the highly dignified counterpart to “gentleman.”
No no, definitely not what I meant! In some circumstances, it can be sleazy (like “hey ladies”).
Honestly I feel like I’m gonna get myself in trouble every time I use “female” at all. There isn’t really another adjective to use though. Saying “woman boxer” has a totally different meaning than “female boxer” for example. Oh well, I don’t really value the opinion of people who would fault me for stepping on linguistic bear trap anyway.
Female is a great adjective and a poor noun.
Is it worse than “girls” when talking about women?
I don’t really see an inherent problem with girls. Girls is the female version of guys as well, not just boys. Nobody really says things like gals anymore. It’s just sort of casual.
People get too damn offended man. I even get PTSD when I’m talking about “females” in a scientific sense. I’m not female but I don’t find “female” offensive. Crazy times for real.
Idgi. What word are you supposed to use when referencing females now? It’s not “woman,” unless you’re wanting to talk about gender. Or are people back to equating the two?
OP is referring to people who only refer to women as “females”. its a weird trait from the manosphere. you’ll hear shit like “these females nowadays…” or “you know what the problem with females is…”. they can’t call them women for some reason. like they can see a group of women and instead of calling them a group of women, they’ll be like “those females”.