I recently watched an interview where the interviewee (a native speaker from the US) used the word female to refer to a woman. Instead of describing the context of this word usage, I will point you to directly to the source (or more precisely to the last minute of it): Henry Rollins: The One Decision that Changed My Life Forever
Why did he use the word female instead of woman when he said "…maybe I would have gotten some female pregnant"? Could it be that it is meant to be understood in a (slightly) pejorative way?
Best Answer
It can be, and it certainly comes off as such in your example.
Male/female are more often used as stand-alone nouns in detached situations like medical or in scientific studies where people are studied, effectively, as animals. When describing someone as simply male or female where we would expect man or woman, the effect is a bit dehumanizing. By taking the person out, and leaving just the gender (understandable and even desirable in some circumstances, e.g. studies), he ends up describing this woman reduced to her animalistic/biologic properties of baby incubation.
Seen a different way, consider the difference between when a policeman says "I saw a male running down the street" (interpretation: more likely criminal) versus "I saw a man running down the street" (interpretation: more likely morning jog).