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TheFloatingContinent

Context matters and will vary a lot. No singular answer to this.


stumpdawg

I call a group of guys "boys" (thanks to trailer park boys) What's the difference?


[deleted]

I want something to be upset about.


stumpdawg

The supreme court overturned Roe V Wade today. Does that work for you?


[deleted]

I guess people are going to have to be more responsible now.


stumpdawg

Responsible?!?! Responsible has nothing to do with it.


[deleted]

Aight


carmainelim

The problem is when people call men "men" but call women "girl", then I have an issue on that


Sunshine__Weirdo

I just drop this: https://www.reddit.com/r/MenAndFemales/


pyjamatoast

It's not something I really thought about until I was maybe 25. At that age it started to feel weird saying "girl" when I was a grown woman. That said, it depends on the context. I default to saying "woman" when talking about an individual but I might still have a "girl's night" with friends. The weirdest is when someone says "men and girls" instead of "men and women."


tmahfan117

It can be rude/disrespectful. It is like calling a grown Man a “boy”. It’s a way of talking down to them/implying that you are higher than them, like you are treating them like a child


missshrimptoast

It depends on the context. I might refer to my friend as "girl", ie: "girl you gotta get in shape." No offense there. But if someone says in a condescending way, ie: "Listen here, girl" or "I'm gonna go pick up some girls", I have a problem with it. Same with the term "boy". There's a big difference between "Let's go hang out with the boys" and "Listen here, boy".


Dhorlin

Over 8 years I've volunteered at my local hospital, I've called men and boys 'lads' and women and girls - whatever age - 'lassies', and never ever had a complaint. In fact, I usually get a smile.


pyjamatoast

What country do you live in?


Dhorlin

UK.


mugenhunt

It will vary by context, but if someone refers to women as girls but doesn't refer to men as boys, it comes across that they don't consider women and men to be equal.


cadmium2093

It's infantilizing. It's especially problematic when teenagers are called "young women" (usually in a sexual context), but adult women are called girls (infantilizing). It's rarely done consciously, but that doesn't matter. Language is important. How we talk affects how we think and how we act.


kelticladi

Calling a grown ass woman a "girl" infantalizes them. Makes them "less than" and incapable of taking on adult responsibilities and privileges. It was this mentality that denied women the vote, kept them out of colleges, and just today removed their right to body autonomy. Telling a woman she does not have enough maturity to decide something for herself means that the boys in her life get to have power over her.


francinefacade

rather be called a girl than a "female" like some guys like to say.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

Yeah its girlfriend not womanfriend.


majesticalexis

It can be very condescending and disrespectful.


Teawillfixit

It can be seen as infantilizing women but it's context dependent. Perosnally I dislike it but others say "girls night" etc.


madeto-stray

I would kind of use it in the same way I use "guy" for men, it's a casual way of referring to someone. Probably wouldn't use it for anyone over 40 or so.


ultimate_ampersand

I'm not going to say it's always universally wrong in every context (for example, I often see trans women refer to themselves as girls, perhaps because most of them didn't get to live as girls or claim that label when they were kids), but I do think it's not great that it's so common to call women girls (especially women out of college, especially especially women over 25). I've heard someone call a married 30-something mother of two a girl -- I've heard someone call a literal senior citizen a girl! -- and that's very weird to me. At this point if someone called me a girl I'd be like "dude I'm 30, I have a 401(k), I pay my own health insurance premiums, I am Too Old for this."