Every woman, whether she has been online or is going through her day to day life, has experienced the dreaded word. Female.
Now you might be wondering: what’s so wrong with calling women females? When we were in our elementary biology class, we were taught that there are two sexes: male and female. When we fill out important documents, we are told to check boxes that represent the dichotomy of M and F. When we see how restrooms are treated in American society, we see pictures showing who should belong to each bathroom. So, what’s the problem?
I hate these females pic.twitter.com/h50nubD7ga
— Cryptic (@CrypticNoOne) February 1, 2020
In the English language, we have denotations and connotations. We have words that can be explained literally and words that are explained through how our society views certain ideals. Regardless of the logical fallacies that exist to state that female is a harmless term, the usage of the word proves otherwise.
With female, the connotational value is obviously apparent. When simply scrolling through Twitter, we see men complain about the mannerisms and actions of women. Some even promote misogynistic remarks weaponizing the word female to attack and lower women. Women are just bitches that are too promiscuous or too prudish.
Female means you do not have humanity. It means that women are just anything. It means women are just simplified to genitalia that not all women have. It means that there is no difference between her and a female dog.
i been seein a lot of girls postin ab how dudes aint shit again and honestly yall blame us so much just so u dont feel bad sleepin w 4 dudes in a steady rotation? fuckkk outtta hereeeee females more sneaker than dudes sorry to say it
— joejoe (@joeybruce76) January 31, 2020
In our heteronormative society, females are seen as members who are meant to only have the roles of mother and wife, being told we have to carry children. We are forced to go through the bio-essentialism and strict gender roles that have been pushed upon us since birth, which a lot of fundamentalists continue to push on to this day.
Young women who are seeking after careers & a paycheck, I encourage you to reevaluate your life. Is deep debt, long hours away from home, working for a boss, & a paycheck worth it? Can it compare to the love of a husband & children, & the comforts of being home to raise children?
— The Transformed Wife (@laalex2) January 24, 2020
Female is a way to force women into a box of femininity. So, if we deviate away from it or have same-gender relationships, we are seen as less. When a woman is butch, stud, or stem we are treated like shit because of not presenting and engaging in relationships with men the way society wants us to.
This is a normal occurrence, and men should know it happens. Examples I’ve experienced range from him throwing his drink on the ground and yelling that I’m a lesbian to me needing to move out of state to get away from an angry guy who kept harassing me when I turned him down.
— Giselle? ????? (@GiselleAlbrech2) January 30, 2019
Female is a way to tell trans women and femmes that they don’t belong to the world of womanhood because of what originally was on their birth certificate. Their rights, beliefs, personalities and humanity doesn’t matter, only postulations rooted in bigotry are seen as the code of conduct.
Female is a way to tell trans men and mascs that because of what they were assigned at birth that their manhood means nothing even though it most definitely does.
We work hard. We go to work or school during most of the week. We decide to have children and stay at home or work, or not have any children at all. We talk. We eat. We laugh. We cry. We solve the world’s problems. We have morals. We engage in romantic or sexual relationships or we do not. Most importantly, we live, and we breathe.
So no, we are not females. We are women. Some of us are men. We are all people.
Images: 1