This is a hag;
From dictionary.com;
I’d like to say it’s a generational thing, but recently I had a friend get on my case for calling myself a girl and him a boy. So I guess it may not be.
It’s not that I’m afraid of aging, or trying to hold onto my childhood. I just cannot conceive of being called a woman at this point in my life, not without laughing in the face of the person who said it. “Young woman” would be fine, and probably preferred from people who didn’t know me at least a little. “Girl” is preferable for most.
I don’t know where the cut-off is. I think it’s getting close, though I’ll have to be over 25 at least before I take “woman” from anybody close to me. I don’t think it’ll ever sound right coming from my parents.
But it’s not like I attach all kinds of importance to the distinction, either. I’m not sure I get all the coming-of-age turning-into-a-woman stuff. I may have changed a lot since I was young, but I’m still fundamentally the same person. I mean, what, am I supposed to be striving for card-carrying membership of the grown-up club? shrug
Youth in females (wymmyn, X-chromosome deficient, etc) is sexually attractive. All other conditions being similar, females, much more so than men, are burdened with concerns of their deteriorating physical attractiveness as they age. When a man refers to a female as a ‘girl’, the man is simply implying that the female is still, in his eyes, young, and thus attractive. I know there are some who consider this sexist and condescending, but until this thread I’d thought it polite to call most females girls. If an acquaintance of mine had any objections, I’d happily replace ‘girl’ with any other noun of her choosing, except maybe ‘daddy’.
That would be Y-deficient. :smack: In my defence, I had severe and undiagnosed ADD in high school. Also, I am slightly drunk.
**mangeorge ** you are right Chicks does equal dude.
The **chicks ** are going out for girls night and the **dudes ** are staying home to video game.
And the girl tots are chicklets or chickadees and the boys are lil’ dudes or mini-dudes. At least in the world of sj2 that is.
Maybe I come across as more strident about this than I really am. If an adult female wishes to call herself (and others) a girl, ok. I won’t have a hissy-fit. But I don’t expect to hear any serious grousing if I call that same person a woman. If you’re in or beyond your late teens, and female, you’re a woman. Vanity can’t change that.
BTW; the restroom signs at my catholic high school read “men” and “girls”.
Maybe I come across as more strident about this than I really am. If an adult female wishes to call herself (and others) a girl, ok. I won’t have a hissy-fit. But I don’t expect to hear any serious grousing if I call that same person a woman. If you’re in or beyond your late teens, and female, you’re a woman. Vanity can’t change that.
BTW; the restroom signs at my catholic high school read “men” and “girls”.
38 male here–Hehe…you’d think “sir” would be good, but if I get called “Sir,” I assume it’s cop, or maybe a bouncer.
It’s the old “double-post” thing.
Stark Raven Mad made me do it.
All that talk about nubilism. :o
I use the terms chick and dude, but I never thought of modifying them for the tots. Cute.
I don’t see how broad or hag fit in that group. Aside from the adjective form of “broad,” when are either of those two words ever used to discribe something other than a woman? Complimentary or not, how are they dehumanizing?
And would you consider terms like “stud” or “bear,” animal terms that are exclusively used for men, to also be dehumanizing?
For that matter, how do you feel about the word “dude?”
Bear. I don’t recall ever hearing, except maybe as in “like a big old bear”. I’ve heard “dog” used, mostly as a compliment. That’s dehumanizing, isn’t it?
Studs have been largely replaced by artificial insemination, I’m pretty sure. Now that’s insulting at least.
Broad, unless I’n wrong, refers to a woman’s hips. Good thing this is IMHO.
I have no idea what the hell “dude” is all about, although I’ve always used it a lot.
Hag fits because of the context in which it’s used.
It’s not that “girl” or “young woman” is derogatory, and certainly anyone is welcome to choose whatever word she is most comfortable with. But it just seems so sad that an adult female feels the need to reject the word which best describes her. These females see something derogatory about “woman.”
The Women’s Suffrage Movement wasn’t about getting the vote for girls. There was no equal rights movement for girls. Being a WOMAN is coming into the fullness of who you are.
Can any of you imagine an eighteen year old male who is ashamed of being called a man?
I mean no personal criticism toward pasunejen, overlyverbose and kimera. They are just being honest. I just feel that an older generation has failed them in some way.
I will add my own preference not to be called a lady. That resupposes certain behaviors that I may not ascribe to – or it may imply that I should ascribe to them since I am a woman. Besides, I always hear Jerry Lewis’s voice when I hear the word.
(I do confess to using “the girls” when speaking with my husband or best friend about a certain group of women and I have been known to refer to some of the baudier women I know as “broads” upon occasion. Neither time are these words used as an insult by me. Those within the group can get away with it.
CateAyo, welcome to SDMB! That thing about the “Lady Tigers” has driven me crazy since high school. How about “Tigerettes”? :smack:
I wonder if they have ever changed the name of the ultimate chess championship in the world. I know that at least it used to something like the “Men’s Grand Master” even when a woman won it.
And of course there’s World Cup Soccer and Women’s World Cup Soccer…
I can’t speak for kimera or overlyverbose, but here’s my take: I never said anything about feeling the word “woman” to be derogatory; it’s just that it doesn’t sit quite right with me yet.
I would consider myself to have pretty well come in to the fullness of who I am, but I’m used to being called a girl and in my experience the marker of womanhood is age rather than any particular sort of maturity. So I don’t feel like I’m quite there yet, and I don’t see it as anything to be either eager for or fearful of. Somewhere along the way most people will drop the stop calling me a “girl” or drop the “young” off “young woman”, and that’s it. It doesn’t mean anything else. Why is this such a problem?
Or: there are many individuals in the world who don’t ever really find themselves. Are you honestly going to tell me you call them girls and boys all the way through their life cycle, and that age has nothing to do with it?
I don’t think anyone said anything about being ashamed. I think you’re reading way too much into our posts.
Why should we be so self-conscious and so desirous of outside feedback about our maturity and, of all things, sense of self that we should need to be called women to feel right with the world? Meh. I’m way too tired to articulate all this properly, but I just don’t get the issue, or how I’ve been “failed”. I think I’m doing fine without having to swap out for the latest and greatest descriptor.
Also, I can think of many males between 17 and 22 who would indeed find it weird–though they wouldn’t be ashamed–to be referred to as men rather than young men or guys or (depending upon who was speaking) boys.
Many Orthodox Jews won’t take unmarried people seriously, which seriously pisses me off. Singles may be accomplished, mature adults, but until they’re married, they’re referred to as boys and girls. This afternoon, an acquaintance referred to ‘a 34-year-old boy’ that someone was trying to set her up with. (She’s in her mid-twenties.)
Yeah, I don’t care if other people call me a woman. That’s just not what I consider myself. And it’s not just some desperate attempt to hold onto my youth, I look forward to the future and to the time when I actually look and feel like a woman! I just naturally look and feel much younger than I actually am and I’m enjoying my youth while it lasts. I know a lot of girls who are younger than me and who try to act like women in their 30s. That’s just not for me, I am in no hurry to get older. I think it’s stupid how we try to rush people past childhood and into adulthood in this day and age. I’m still figuring myself out, I still go out to clubs and dance and drink until 6 am. That’s not something a ‘woman’ does.
I think it’s really silly how you think this is setting back or somehow rejecting woman’s right too. The term woman was used because girl only applies to females under the age of 25 or so and the term woman can be used to apply to all females.
I asked a bunch of my guy friends my age about this and most of them said that they also thought it was strange to be called ‘man’ most of them considered themselves a ‘guy.’
I doubt that, pasunejen. Everything else you and the rest have said I can consider, but I do doubt your above statement. Especailly the “many” part.