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Ridiculous. It is not hard to write engaging sentences without refering to gender.
If we are talking about someone we know, that person can be identified by "he" or "she." If we do not know the person, it is acceptable to write, "Someone came into the room. They did not make a sound." There is no confusion there, it is not ambiguous, we know exactly what is meant. Using "they" in the second sentence is indicative of "he or she". Since the pronoun is essentially replacing "he" and "she" in the sentence, the plural is even arguably accurate, it is referencing multiple possibilties.
In cases where we make generalized statements there is no necessity for a neutral pronoun. "People are often daft when it comes to grammar. They would do better if they had a style guide handy." There is no need for a "he or she" or a single neutral pronoun if you word a sentence properly.
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MM - so funny - "it" is a term my mom has used for years and yes, I myself use it quite often too! Can get a bit confusing though when there's a few "its" - occasionally we have to clarify
Personally, I've found that when I really don't like somebody, I find it near impossible to use their "proper name."
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Originally posted by Mess View PostRidiculous. It is not hard to write engaging sentences without refering to gender.
If we are talking about someone we know, that person can be identified by "he" or "she." If we do not know the person, it is acceptable to write, "Someone came into the room. They did not make a sound." There is no confusion there, it is not ambiguous, we know exactly what is meant. Using "they" in the second sentence is indicative of "he or she". Since the pronoun is essentially replacing "he" and "she" in the sentence, the plural is even arguably accurate, it is referencing multiple possibilties.
In cases where we make generalized statements there is no necessity for a neutral pronoun. "People are often daft when it comes to grammar. They would do better if they had a style guide handy." There is no need for a "he or she" or a single neutral pronoun if you word a sentence properly.
Where the gender neutral issue unfolds is in "domestic violence" ("intimate partner abuse") where the neutrality of the ontology used to describe DV (IPA) is all slanted to the male being the abuser and the woman being the victim. Considering the balance in most statistics that IPA happens equally by both genders it is high time that the material become gender neutral.
Good Luck!
Tayken
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in the instance of court documents, you can use "the respondent" or "the applicant" in place of he/she or mother/father.
ITA with Tayken. The only place that it is significantly slanted is in DV publications. And I think that is causing or contributing to the gender bias there.
Once the publications become unbiased we may actually make some progress towards recognizing it as effecting both genders quite equally. I think that would also recognize the impact of emotional/mental abuse in DV cases, as it is understandable that there would be some differences between the type of physical violence committed by a woman, and a man, based on physical capacities of course.
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