Re: use of he/she/they

[Pat Anderson <panders -at- AW -dot- SGI -dot- COM>]

At 2:13 PM -0500 12/08/97, Barclay Blanchard wrote:
>I've been mixing up the singular pronouns in my documents,
>using "she" sometimes and "he" others (most often "she"),
>and have been asked to change all of them to "they."
>
>It goes against the grain for me to use a plural pronoun that
>has a singular antecedent.
>
>I could rewrite so that there are no singular antecedents, but
>in some cases this may be clumsy.
>
>How do those of you who are "gender aware/sensitive" handle
>this?
>
By avoiding third person singular, generally.
We write our docs in the second person.

When we do have to use third person singular, we try to use a job
description (that can apply to either sex) such as "the artist," "the
animator," or "the designer."

...pat.




----------------------
Pat Anderson,
Technical Publications Manager
panders -at- aw -dot- sgi -dot- com
--
Alias|Wavefront, an SGI Company                   Phone: (416) 362-8558
Toronto, Ontario, Canada                                       ext. 8375

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