Re: he/she

[Heilan Yvette Grimes <HEP2 -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

>Gene Ledbetter writes:

>James Perkins mentioned the idiosyncratic convention of
>using the pronoun "she," rather than the traditional "he,"
>when referring to an anonymous individual. I once owned an
>entire book that followed this unconvention. The practice
>was distracting and irritating, and it detracted from an
>otherwise interesting book on how to get published. I have
>also read material in which the author alternated between
>"he" and "she." This practice was extremely irritating, and
>I tossed the fool thing aside unread.

>The last thing technical writers should do is subject their
>readers [writers/their] to unnecessary confusion or
>complexity. If we must have a fetish, let it be precision,
>e.g., "the hermaphroditic patient should visit his and her
>physician regularly."

So, you find the use of "she" distracting rather than the traditional "he"?
Women find "he" distracting as well when it refers to both men and women.
(How about that gynecology book many years ago that refered to the patient as
he and used the possessive his?) I'm afraid this is one tradition that has
changed. So, if we don't have a gender neutral pronoun, then obviously we
should use the pronoun that refers to the majority of the population: she.
Don't you think that's fair? Why use a minority pronoun to represent all the
people. Women have been told all their lives that "he" was universal, so
don't worry about it. It's not that important. But if women start using "she"
instead, then all of a sudden it becomes important. Men seem to have this odd
logic that because they've used "he" can be inclusive while "she" cannot be.

I seem to recall a few years ago someone wanted to bring back the gender
neutral "ve" that once been used to represent both he and she. Anyone know
about this?

--Yvette