>it feels like a
>placeholder word for "bitches".
>
>"These females today..."


Cool, because your post title makes a blanket statement whereas this is sensibly specific.
This sounds like someone talking about dating and relationships.. In this case, I would assume "women" is the correct word unless the person is a minor, in which case, "girls" would usually be appropriate.

For instance, if I'm talking about a statistic that includes both women and girls, I use the word "female", just as I use the word "male" if covering men and boys.
The rather faulty basis that males should not use to word "female" under any circumstances is where I've always seen this conversation begin and end with unnecessary hostility.