Gender Sensitive Language

[abuzar]

Dear All,

One of the fundamentals my teacher taught me about writing is 'to avoid
gender sensitive language to larger audience', not so is the case here I
guess as the writing mail on 24th of April goes as:

Quote:

what can a freelance writer do to make sure her working environment is as
comfortable, supportive, and reliable as it would be, were she working in a
city centre office?

Unquote.

Your take on this?

Regards
Ali Abuzar
Pakistan

[DanielScocco]

Abuzar, most writers still use "his" in those circunstances, for example:

If a web designer is trying to complete his work...

There are people that will find this sexist, because a web designer can be a man or a woman and you are implying he must be a man. Most people won't care though.

Then you have writers that try to be more balanced, and used the "her" instead of "his" to explicit that they are aware of those differences. Example:

If a web designer is trying to complete her work...

I think you are less likely to find fewer problems using the "her."

Finally, there are writers that stick a "their" pronoun there to make sure that are not getting biased to any side. Keep in mind this solution is not grammatically correct though. Example:

If a web designer is trying to complete their work...

Ah, and there is also the formal procedure of using both her and his, as in the example below:

If a web designer is trying to complete his/her work...

This final solution is perhaps the most correct one, but obviously it hurts the elegance of the writing.

Those are my views at least, other people are welcome to express theirs.

[michael420ts]

I'm curious as to why "If a web designer is trying to complete their work..." is grammatically incorrect. If their is refering to the web designer whoever that may be.

[abuzar]

Aye… Denial I also would like to go for the last of options you put forth. And if nobody cares of these lacunas we can not help but to propagate what is right. And in the world where we propagate pluralistic and basic value system and equate men and women to purge gender discrimination we should concentrate upon such sensitivities be it minor or major.

[DanielScocco]

Personally I just use "his" everywhere, at the risk of being considered sexist.

Michael, I don't think that "If a web designer is trying to complete their work..." is grammatically correct. "A" cannot agree with "their."

[susabelle]

Daniel is right, A webdesigner...their work is grammatically incorrect. It requires a singular.

[Genuine]

Ahhh, the singular 'they' debate.

Besides being a language pragmatist, there's also literary precedence for a singular they. Famous authors, including Austen and Shakespeare have used the singular they. I honestly think that the idea that 'they' couldn't be used as a singular was simply one among many of the silly rules that were codified by prescriptivists. (Is that a word?)

For example, the rule against double negatives---this is lifted from the fact that there is no double negative in Latin. Therefore, people tried to say that you couldn't used a double negative. There's the same problem with the "never end a sentence with a preposition" because of someone's intrepretation of the Latin base/roots.

The fact this is: the gender-neutral male pronoun is fast losing ground. Readers like myself are more jarred and more startled when we read "he" than when you use a singular they.

This issue has exploded over the 'Godblogs' arena when a Bible translation (the NIV) was updated and used the singular they. (This is the TNIV translation) The fact is that using a 'gender neutral' male pronoun is becoming more and more misunderstood. People read the word he, and they think male. Many conservative Christians who were outraged at the TNIV blatantly ignored the precedence of historical usage; they ignored the gender neutral terms used in the original languages of the Bible, and they rode rough-shod over any suggestion that...

language changes.

Go back 500 years, and try to talk to another English-speaking person. You'd have some serious problems. Like I said, I'm a language pragmatist. I don't believe in attempting to force the language to remain static. However, in this case, not only is recent popular usage on my side, historical evidence shows that the singular they was used by some of our most revered authors. So, yes, you can use the singular they.

And since this post is already too long, let's not go into the sexist assumptions bound up in much of the 'gender neutral' male pronouns.

[--Deb]

This is one of the thorniest issues, I think, because it doesn't have a clear or simple answer. Using "they/their" is sufficiently gender-neutral but is plural, but as Daniel said, the options aren't exactly the best. "He/She" or "S/He" is just messy and inelegant....

Yes, yes, I know--all the stuff you just read.

Personally, I try to avoid using they/their but sometimes just can't help myself. Or I alternate using he/his and she/hers from post to post or chapter to chapter so that it comes out "fair."

And then, there's the more formal "One." "One may find that using a mouse is awkward..." Though, since that doesn't appear very often at all in American writing (which is where I am), it just sounds pretentious. I think you need a British accent to make that one work...

--Deb

[RichardWade]

I am personally of the opinion that the easiest way to avoid non-sense like he/she and the singular their is for one to use "one."

[abuzar]

For Genuine, I would add is if we justify or substantiate ‘gender-neutral male pronoun’ argument in historical practices and context. There... we have to let us be acquainted with the state of women in our history. We also would have to relate that phenomenon with the fact that it was as near as 1928 when women were equalized as humans and got their right to verdict (the suffrage movement). In that event can we expect to have gender sensitive inscription approach in the times you referred–when women were marginalized as mere commodity?