female intuition

A French guy used the phrase "female intuition" in the following context:

My female intuition tells me that your problems there were not just technical - how to handle human relations is also very important.

Out of curiosity, I looked up the phrase, which only appeared in urban dictionary - it means someone is not logical and does not make any sense. My question is: is he using the phrase correctly? Does it carry a negative connotation? How do native English speakers use it?

I don't know what "female intuition" implies, but is that French guy a male or a female?

Male. I used the word "guy".

We would normally call it "feminine intuition" or "women's intuition," and the definition you cite from the Urban Dictionary is both inaccurate and insulting. "Feminine intuition" refers to a special power of insight allegedly possessed by women.

It would be odd for a man to say he had it.

"Guy" is not always male, it is often used neutrally.

The stereotype is that men think with their brains(*), and women think with their hearts. Men think logically, women think intuitively. Men are rational, women irrational.
Of course this isn't really true. Men and women both have rational and intuitive traits, and there is much variation between individuals, and occasions, as concerns how strongly these traits become apparent. It is probably only in a humorous context that we would say about a man acting intuitively that he is in touch with his feminine side.

Seriously, men do not have "female intuition" (instead, they have "gut feelings"). Either the speaker in your context is a woman, or he is making a joke.

(*) There is a different stereotype which holds that men think with a different part of their anatomy, the identity of which propriety forbids me to disclose.

danielxu85 said:

Male. I used the word "guy".

So he can't have female intuition and cannot be using the phrase correctly. It's more commonly 'feminine intuition', but the 'female' version is increasing. See this ngram - https://books.google.com/ngrams/gra...eminine intuition;,c0;;Feminine Intuition;,c0

It implies getting to the correct assesment of a situation by illogical means. See 'intuition' in the dictionary. Women are supposed to have more reliable intuition than men.

PS Late to the party, I see, searching for previous threads and finding the ngram. 👁 Smile :)

Edinburgher said:

"Guy" is not always male, it is often used neutrally.

Lest this oft-debated topic derail this thread about "female intuition," here is an existing discussion on the gender neutrality (or not) of "guy/guys,"