I’m a man, but I’ve always just pointed out to other dudes how it would feel if someone referred to us as “males”, and how it makes it sound like they are talking about a bunch of chimpanzees on planet blue and not a bunch of humans.

Here is what I will say though, as someone privvy to convos guys have when women aren’t around:

The only guys I’ve seen try and unironically refer to women as “females”, are pretty much entirely younger guys in early 20s, late teens, who are trying very hard to sound smart. They use the word like that to try and sound better, and often are shocked when older/wiser dudes in the group are like “Jesus christ mate dont say that” and we have to explain to them that it’s not okay, contextually, to use the word that way.

Usually they either get belligerent and try to assert all the older guys are wrong and “its just a word”… these folks don’t get very far and the problem runs waaay deeper than just using that word wrong.

But I have also seen plenty of younger guys go “oh geez I didn’t think of it like that, my bad” and those dudes usually turn out just fine later on in life.

I have never yet, in public settings, seen a younger guy not get called out for doing this irl, by fellow mentors/older guys in my reasonable circles. IE at my jobs, at the bar, I work volunteer hours at a local convention, at local card game tournaments, sport events, etc.

So that’s certainly something that I hope gives a bit of solace. It happens commonly but usually is remediated pretty promptly.

I will note though I live in a more progressive larger city, compared to the surrounding area, so that is likely a contributing factor.