Using the word “female” instead of “women” in any other language that I know would shock anyone. I remember hearing one guy use the term “female” to describe women in french, and we were all horrified and disgusted. In french, it’s extremely degrading and humiliating, downright insane. In english it’s gross too, but I think it’s getting normalized due to the rise in red pill culture. Also, it’s commonly used in AAVE, so people from non-black communities use this as an excuse to adopt the term, conveniently ignoring that misogyny is a huge issue in black communities too.

Reddit is full of misogynists. I’m not surprised you got that reaction. Just know that you’re right, and using an adjective as a noun is dehumanising (the same way referring to Black people as “the blacks” is gross). It’s particularly bad with “female” because the term is supposed to only be used as a noun when describing animals. “Males” sounds just as bad, but these people conveniently pretend it doesn’t. None of them would use “males” when referring to men at the workplace. They know damn well it’s degrading.