Find a group of mostly older/married people. It might not solve the problem, but it'll delay it enough that you can get a solid playtest of your latest build before things go to shit.
Isn't "women" preferable over both terms? Pretty sure if I used the term "girls" around most women I know they'd find it offensive. But most women I know are between 25 and 50 years old.
Oh, so you only hang out with FEMALES AFTER THEYVE HIT THE WALL AND ARE NO LONGWR VALUABLE AND THEY PROBABLY ARE MANIPULATING YOU WITH THEIR VAGINAS EVEN THOUGH THEIR VAGINAS ARE POINTLESS AFTER 20
(I literally felt gross typing that. Even though the people who genuinely think that way would probably say, like 17, not 20. Yuck.)
I’d say “women” in a professional setting, but among friends I don’t see it as an offensive thing. It’s just an informal or casual thing. I’m a guy, and the group of women often includes my wife. But it’s said in a friendly tone.
I think singular vs plural matters too. I would say “good night girls” to a couple of friends leaving, but not “good night girl” to one friend leaving.
Up until like 7 years ago, the word lacked major misogynistic connotation. It used to be fairly common in certain subsects, including nerds, and it all but died in them. I wonder when “female” will become kosher again. This century is unlikely, given the Tate taint. The evolution of language is fascinating.
I think we just realized how overly clinical and dehumanizing it is and it just became an easy tell that that person probably, whether they realize it or not, doesn't really see women as equally human to men, like women are only the sex characteristics that make them biologically female.
To be clear, im referring to the phenomenon where someone, despite frequently using the word 'men', is seemingly only able to refer to women as 'females'. You almost never see 'males' used in that standalone way outside of clinical contexts. So yeah, blame those people for ruining it, not the rest of us for wising up to it.
I use it to distinguish sex and gender. Only some females have to deal with periods and pregnancy, but all women have to deal with social mysogeny. In this context I would use women because it's a gender issue not a sex issue.
I think it might also be an age thing, if you're in high school/late teenager and talking about your female peers it's a neutral sounding term for when "girls" is too casual and "women" makes them seem too old.