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From: regard@ttidcc.UUCP (Adrienne Regard)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: gender specific pronouns again
Message-ID: <539@ttidcc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 11-Jul-85 16:16:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: ttidcc.539
Posted: Thu Jul 11 16:16:00 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 15-Jul-85 00:49:40 EDT
Organization: TTI, Santa Monica, CA.
Lines: 20

The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe)
>Polly writes:
>I once had to use a textbook where  the  genders  were  simply  alternated,
>sometimes  within  the  same  sentence.  The effect was _very_ distracting.
>Having to deal with a subject that changes sex three times in one  sentence
>slows  the  reading and information absorption process enormously (at least
>it did for me), probably because it's so unexpected and unusual.

Now, the funny thing about this posting is that part and parcel of this
discussion is that we are looking for a pronoun that doesn't leave an
impression of sex.  Polly indicates that the changing use of the pronoun
was distracting because it changed "sex" three times.

What does that do to the stance that the pronoun "he" already stands for
everybody (and not just male people)?  Seems to me it helps support the
claim that the use of a gender specific pronoun encourages a sense of
sexuality in the object of that pronoun, and that "he" is a gender specific
pronoun, not a neuter one.  Polly is usually satisfied by not publicizing a
stand on one side or another of an issue, but it seems to me those of you
out there who do take a stand can't ignore these factors.