RE: Gender neutral - any new developments in your neck of the woods?

["Sean Brierley" <sbri -at- haestad -dot- com>]

?

Because "he" is standard language usage for someone of unknown gender.
"She" will attract focus and applause from those who think using "he"
degrades women and "she" will attract a pause from the rest who will
rightly assume you are trying to make a point. Most folks would read
right past "he" and not pause to think that you are treating women
unfairly by the use of the masculine pronoun.

I use the plural, "they," but my employer frowns on the plural-singular
mismatch and most others play with an annoying combination of "he/she"
and 
"his/hers."

Of course, were I writing an op-ed political piece, maybe I'd take your
approach and use "she."

Cheers,

Sean

-----------------------------------------
Sean Brierley
Software Documentation Specialist
Haestad Methods 
http://www.haestad.com 
203-805-0572 (voice) 
203-597-1488 (fax)
 


-----Original Message-----
From: dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com [mailto:dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com] 

Sean Brierley wrote:
> 
> I think using "she" is the worst choice because it is distracting...

I usually write in the second person, but I am curious:

  How is "she" more distracting than "he"?

I'm talking about instructions for everyone, not just men or just women.

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