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Re: Gender neutral - any new developments in your neck of thewoods?
Subject:Re: Gender neutral - any new developments in your neck of thewoods? From:dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 03 Mar 2003 12:53:59 -0800
eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com wrote:
>
> ...if using 'he' excludes women, then I think that it's only right
> to point out that 'she' excludes men.
Ah, well, I'm a believer in affirmative action.
>
> You are trying to make the point that numerous years of standard
> usage of 'he' is incorrect because it excluded women.
You overextend. He meant making a point about some specific use of "she" in a particular sentence in which it appears.
>
> You are trying to make a PC point by the use of 'she'.
Only if PC stands for "personal choice." When I need to use THIRD person singular :) I simply choose to use "she" instead of "he"--no big deal.
>
> I question...why anyone would get hot and bothered
> arguing for the use of she.
Who's hot and bothered? I just answered a post about the use of "they" as a singular pronoun. Like lots of others who answered, I described my alternative to what many folks find awkward and disruptive. You don't have to like my alternative or theirs to make it OK.
>
> How long is until someone thinks that writing an office manual using
> exclusively 'she' is demeaning because it stereotypes women into the job?
Pardon? Office manuals contained language like this for decades:
"The secretary should carry her steno pad to all meetings," and
"The manager should review his direct reports at least once a year."
People SHOULD think it's demeaning, because it IS. What was even more demeaning was that only women got hired as secretaries, and only men got to be managers.
Whether this is still on topic is *also* a matter of opinion, so I'm bowing out before Eric expresses his.
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