The use of gender pronouns has led to debates on political correctness in language. Suggestions include using interchangeable he/she pronouns, non-gendered them pronouns, or new gender-neutral pronouns. Some object to discarding gender pronouns, but historical usage can imply discrimination.
Political correctness in language has led to some significant discussions about how to handle gender pronouns. These include him, her, him, her, herself, and himself. Some people object to using a pronoun, especially when the gender of a person being referred to is unknown. It was typical enough to use masculine forms of pronouns to refer to everyone, but a riot in trying to be fair has resulted in extraordinary variations on how to handle this in a way that doesn’t offend.
Some suggest that he and she and other gender pronouns should be used interchangeably in a group of sentences to avoid not including both genders. An example would be: a writer must know her pronouns. She is lost without them. A writer cannot help but constantly use pronouns and must know how to use them correctly.
There are objections to this interchange, since it appears that the above sentences may be talking about several people of different genders, and the gender pronouns used may lead to confusion and lack of clarity. Some people have taken to substituting them, them, them and them, even though these are plural pronouns. You can change the sentence with these non-gendered pronouns by not using a singular subject to begin with. Note the change from the example sentences above: Writers need to know their pronouns. They are lost without them. Writers can’t go long without using pronouns constantly, and they need to know how to use them correctly.
Others use single subjects and replace them with plural pronouns, which is not recommended if you want to please an English teacher, or use “he/she” and “he/she” instead. Another way to refer specifically to gender is to use the subject “one.” But many find it very formal. Alternatively, you can change the pronouns in the first example above to variants of the pronoun “you” which is not gendered. Some writers find this tactic too casual, but avoid sounding biased against any one genre.
You’ll find that some feminist literature writers use gender pronouns that are always feminine when referring to either gender. Others have proposed using new pronouns that are not gendered at all. You will see them on a number of internet sites. They include words like “em”, “e”, “ey”, “zir” and “hir”. Some of these are gender pronouns in other languages. “Sie” is the German form of “She,” so it’s not clear if you have passing knowledge of German that this isn’t a gender pronoun.
Some people strongly object to discarding gender pronouns in favor of newly invented gender-neutral pronouns. They argue that political correctness in language can simply go too far, and having to substitute new words to achieve this is not an appropriate solution. However, if you evaluate the language from a historical perspective, you will find that masculine gender pronouns are used much more than their feminine counterparts. This can imply a kind of discrimination that writers want to avoid.
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