That is what we need to be critical of. Referring to men as men but women as females in the same sentence
It did not refer to women as 'females', it used 'female' as an adjective to refer to things related to women. Again, the reverse would have done if talking about the sexual partners of women. 'Men' and 'female' are used because they are being used in different contexts in the sentence. If the sentence had been something like 'men who report zero sex with females' that would have been entirely different. So yes, despite your insistence that you aren't, you do seem to be taking issue with the word itself, rather than its usage.
It also wouldn't have been a problem because we don't live in a society that values the humanity of women above men. There's that pesky context again.
If this use of 'female' were somehow uniquely dehumanising don't you think it would be done less for men? But it doesn't seem to be so, or at least not substantially. Indeed, a different article also in the WaPo about an earlier version of the survey speaks of 'men reporting male sexual partners', almost a copy paste of the phrasing, but with the 'male' replacing 'female' to suit the context. If living in a society that values men more were making these not equivalent, we would expect the version talking about 'women with male sex partners' to sound a little unusual, even if not strictly incorrect, because of the 'subtle dehumanisation' of men, something which isn't as common in society. The fact that it seems like a pretty neutral statement indicates to me that that is not the case.
It did not refer to women as 'females', it used 'female' as an adjective to refer to things related to women. Again, the reverse would have done if talking about the sexual partners of women. 'Men' and 'female' are used because they are being used in different contexts in the sentence. If the sentence had been something like 'men who report zero sex with females' that would have been entirely different. So yes, despite your insistence that you aren't, you do seem to be taking issue with the word itself, rather than its usage.
If this use of 'female' were somehow uniquely dehumanising don't you think it would be done less for men? But it doesn't seem to be so, or at least not substantially. Indeed, a different article also in the WaPo about an earlier version of the survey speaks of 'men reporting male sexual partners', almost a copy paste of the phrasing, but with the 'male' replacing 'female' to suit the context. If living in a society that values men more were making these not equivalent, we would expect the version talking about 'women with male sex partners' to sound a little unusual, even if not strictly incorrect, because of the 'subtle dehumanisation' of men, something which isn't as common in society. The fact that it seems like a pretty neutral statement indicates to me that that is not the case.