Posted Saturday, December 7, 2024
1yWhy girl
Why do people, particularly men, use girl to refer to an adult female instead of woman? For example, I see so many men make posts like "I'm looking for a loyal girl" or "hey girls let's talk". But the ladies will say they are looking for a man, not a boy. Is this just a weird linguistics phenomena or perhaps subconscious conditioning that women need to be reduced or degraded? I'm curious if others have noticed this trend and what your thoughts may be.
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1y
This is something interesting that I've also been thinking of lately, coincidentally. Now, I'd suppose it has to do with gender roles. Perhaps women want to seem youthful and cute/beautiful in terms of gender roles, and so they often are refered to in a cutesy way of "girl", for example. So, the word is a gentle, feminine name for the female gender as it pertains to historical trends. As for men, I believe that, historically, men have been portrayed to be strong and manly, and so people would prefer to refer to them as men rather than boys, mostly. Of course, there are some exceptions, such as when teen girls refer to teen boys, where the girls would refer to them as "boys" still. And, when speaking in a semi-formal manner about the female gender, men would refer to women as "women". It's interesting, the intricacies of the English lexicon. I cannot say I know nearly as much as "everything", but my hope is that my take is at least somewhat accurate.
1y
Its just because he is not man yet, he still a boy looking for baby gurl😂
1y
I think they're actually looking for younger women, or it could be lost in translation due to English being a second language, term of endearment. I'm sure the reasons vary 🤔
1y
Funny enough their have been studies that have been published within this past decade that question this inadequacy and frequency that this occurred. Some have suggest that the reason people refer to people being younger has to do first desire, and secondly subconsciously. The desire portion is easy to follow since it shows people maturity, upbringing, language, and referral. The study was performed for both male and females so the differences between them were many but they all follow a similar theme of context and familiarity they wish to have with someone. The secondary portion of the study which was going into people subconscious was harder to find as a common factor. This had to do with people in the areas that they did not realize themselves which made the entire process difficult and speculative. While I do agree that language is used to describe the world that we have around us, I also realize that perception is different for each individual. For me I think of Mary Room in these sort of situations. While I do agree we shouldn’t be referring to others as girls, I do understand that the perception I have is that I prefer to not be called daddy by my significant other. The reason being is personal but for each their own I argue.
1y
...so what will I call my SO when I get one, if 'girlfriend' isn't psychologically correct? It's honestly more of a cultural issue as anything else I think. When everyone around you says a thing, it's the norm. People from other areas being offended by something that's different feels like a weird waste of energy. Another factor is the culture mixing that comes with always being online. Gives people a lot more to be offended by even though they understand the meaning of what the other person is talking about. Could just be that it literally rolls off the tongue. Single syllable, all you gotta do is move your tongue a little bit. Laziness wins!
1y
I think the overall use of the word 'girl' in reference to women is more a desire on a lot of those women's part to still feel or appear young. I like being referred to as 'lady' myself lol. Men calling women girls feels childish depending on the context of the situation and relationship to said women. As long as you don't call anyone ma'am though I think it's childish to get upset over.
1y
Funny, I was literally called misogynistic by a woman at work for preferred use of the word ladies over girls. I never thought of it before then l just didn't feel right saying girls ever. I think the only time I've used girls is when I'm just referring to my neices, and I know that isn't with disrespect there. I think it most likely roots in perception of age. Women typically want an older acting man (genteman) and men typically want a younger acting female (girls).
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