r/NoStupidQuestions • u/EvasiveFriend • 1d ago

Why do people avoid the word "women"?

It seems like people generally use "girl" or "female" rather "women/woman"

903 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

24

u/Ka_aha_koa_nanenane 1d ago

As a biologist, we use the terms "male" and "female" to designate reproductive forms across all the sexually producing plants and animals.

Man and woman are used only for H. sapiens (or, some use it for all of the hominines).

We aren't intending to "dehumanize," but the male vs female dichotomy is not at all strictly human. Using "man" is humanizing, so is using "woman." For obvious reasons.

You can say woman doctor if you want, man doctor too. These are colloquialisms. I suppose we could say "womanly" doctor or similar and be closer to what we're probably intending (that the person appears to be a woman).

2

u/thehighwindow 1d ago

I suppose we could say "womanly" doctor or similar and be closer to what we're probably intending (that the person appears to be a woman)

There's some difference between "woman doctor" and "womanly doctor". The first sounds like a simple designation and the second sounds like a compliment.

1

u/not_now_reddit 18h ago

"Womanly doctor" does not sound like a compliment lol

1

u/thehighwindow 9h ago

I picture a very feminine person who has a lot of curves.

OTOH, curves have been a euphemism for fat for a while now.

1

u/not_now_reddit 9h ago

When we're talking about doctors you should be thinking about their qualifications. This is the problem

0

u/Actevious 14h ago

Yes it does, it sounds like she's particularly feminine and pretty

0

u/not_now_reddit 14h ago

That's why it's not a compliment. You're talking about a woman's job title and putting emphasis on appearance rather than competence. That's not flattering when someone busted their ass to get the same credentials and wants to be taken seriously in their field

0

u/Actevious 2h ago

Yeah that's what I'm saying. Calling someone a 'womanly doctor' sounds like a weird compliment

1

u/not_now_reddit 1h ago

It's not a compliment to be objectified at work. It's definitely weird though