Re. Gender neutrality yet again!

[Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

 I don't understand why gender neutral writing remains an
 issue! What's past is past, and can't be undone... you're
 not going to change anything already in print until it
 comes time to revise it, and if we're talking about
 fiction, even that revision is ethically questionable
 without the author's consent.

 On the other hand, the debate about this issue on the list
 reveals at least one important thing for those of us who
 remember that we're writing for an audience, not for
 ourselves: a significant and vocal group _is_ offended by
 chauvinistic use of pronouns. In this context, what
 possible beneficial purpose could be served by offending
 that portion of our audience?

 Moreover, if our choice of pronouns harms the self-esteem
 of female members of our audience, which several of our
 techwhirlers have noted based on personal experience, this
 provides strong anecdotal evidence that the effect is real.
 I'm not going to push any statistics on you, as I have none
 to defend, but is it ethically defensible to risk harming a
 young woman's self-esteem simply because we're too lazy to
 correct an old, bad habit?

 We argued this point long ago, and I believe the results
 are preserved in the FAQ, but the bottom line to me is
 simple: if you can write around the "he/his" construction
 without making the text tedious or unclear (and it's truly
 rare that you can't do so), why not do it? It's an easy
 skill to learn, and once learned, it becomes second nature.

 --Geoff Hart    @8^{)}
 geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

 Disclaimer: If I didn't commit it in print in one of our
 reports, it don't represent FERIC's opinion.