why is an 18 year old female referred to as a woman but an 18 year old male is referred to as a boy?

Question

This is something i see in the media every day in the UK. At 18, both men and women are classed as adults with full rights.

Answer 1

Human females mature before males; possibly because their 'breeding season' is finite.

Unlike the male of the species........... who're still 'fathering' as long as there's a fertile womb to begat into!!!!!!!

Answer 2

Yeah, the 18 old male should be called a young man I think.

Answer 3

Females are women when they are about 18, males are men when they are about 30, I reckon.

Answer 4

Girls are more mature than boys! So girls become women faster!

No really, a woman is fully developed at 18, and boys dont stop 'growing' until 21.

Also, because in the media, most of these stories you are reading are written by women!! typicall!!!

Answer 5

It's a societal thing. Women are thought to come of age and mature earlier while boys are thought to mature later. Also, men are defined by when they get a real job, or get married. Then they really become men!

Answer 6

I don't think of either sex as man or woman at age eighteen. Sorry, but that's still an immature adult to me.

What a society posts as an "adult" age is just words on paper. A person is only as old as their emotional maturity allows them to be, and at eighteen, to me, that's still too young to be seen as adult.

You don't start to be an adult until you're in your twenties, twenty-three, twenty-four. That's when most are finally finished with higher education and they get to start living in the "real" world with the rest of us. Paying bills, tuition loans, etc.

Just my opinion.

Answer 7

According to who?

I rarely ever hear either at age 18 referred to
as man or woman.

More often as young woman or young man,

Most often as teen.

Answer 8

I think you'll find it's more common to find adult women referred to as 'girls' in the media.

I agree, 18 is a young man though, not a boy.

Answer 9

weird. I've never noticed that before, but I live in the US. I would think they should call them "man" and "woman" if they're 18 or older. If it really bugs you, write a letter to the editor of your newspaper, or to your local TV station to ask them about it.

Answer 10

A man is a boy and a woman is a girl. Just call everyone boys and girls and don't read so much into it.

Answer 11

Women mature faster than men.