I’m not a native English speaker, so forgive my ignorance, but isn’t “women” a noun, not an adjective? Why not just say “female artists” or “female writers”?

As a side note, I’ve also literally never seen anyone say “men artists” or “men writers”. What gives?

  • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
    172·
    13 hours ago

    Lots to unpack here.

    First: female/male vs women/men. Female/male is usually used in clinical settings and for animals. Using female/male is implicitly dehumanizing. And I think this is a common trait of most romance languages: macho and hembra, for instance, are used primarily for animals in Spanish. Tell us your language and I’m guessing someone can explain it in your language.

    Second: Nouns can function as adjectives: race horse, history teacher, ticket office. I think “woman writer” also implies that the writer is writing for a female audience.

    Third: “Female artist” is actually OK in my book because it’s used an an ADJECTIVE and the really offensive use is “females” as a noun. “Do you see those females over there by the bar?” But I think it can be a case of overcorrection to avoid “female” as adjective.

    There’s a funny one that I heard: “lady senator.” So dainty and refined.

    Fourth: MALE is the default in patriarchal societies. If you refer to someone without specifying gender, the assumption is that they’re male (and let’s face it: probably also white).