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Subject:Re: Usage: Gender bias (essay) From:"Jenna C. Thomas-McKie" <jthomas -at- ADMIN -dot- AC -dot- EDU> Date:Mon, 7 Aug 1995 12:41:59 LCL
Shelley Strong <sstrong -at- techreps -dot- com> writes:
>women are individuals with an X and Y chromosome; men are individuals with
>two X chromosomes. And except for bizarre genetic mutations, ne'er the two
>shall blend in one body
Speaking of bizarre genetic mutations....
Women and individuals with two X chromosomes, men are individuals with an X
and a Y. Or so said every Biology textbook I've ever read. The only
exceptions I've ever heard of were a few XY individuals who were androgen
insensitive, and therefore physically female.
> . . . or in one pronoun.
"I" and "you" are not gender-specific pronouns. Neither are "they", "we", or
"you". And since we already have the example of "you" serving double duty as
both singular and plural, why can't "they"?
