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Re: ans Dove re HE
On Tue, 3 Dec 1996, Matt Kuss wrote:
> Where is the damage? I know good and well sexism exists, and that sexist
> language certainly doesnt help anything, but you certainly hype the damage
> aspect. My debate response would be- timeframe? By your calculations the
> word HE has been used over 3 billion times in the 90's alone. Additionally,
> how can one distinguish between when HE is used to ACTUALLY REFER TO A MAN,
> much as Mr. Dove pointed out in one of his previous posts regarding the
> Nobel laureate statement he made. Would his use of a gender specific pronoun
> count?
>
> I suppose the disadvantage is that even when I use HE to refer to a man, it
> will still reinforce the mindest resulting in the damage you speak of.
> Wouldnt that make it nonunique? Should we not use male pronouns even when we
> refer to males?
This is an argument for replacement, not against. The difficulty in
distinguishing when reference to a male is intended and when reference to
a neutral person is intended is one of the reasons why using 'he' as
gender neutral worsens sexism.
References:
Archive created by Jonathan Stanton (jonathan@cs.jhu.edu)
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