sexist language

[Root Boy Jim]

? From: Doug Gwyn  <gwyn at smoke.brl.mil>

? In English as it existed before the recent politicization of the language,
? there were two genders, masculine and feminine.  Unlike Latin and some
? other languages, English has no separate neutral gender.  In cases where
? neutral gender would be appropriate, it has long been an explicit rule of
? the English language that the masculine form be used.  It could just as
? well have been the feminine gender but it wasn't.  Some uniform choice
? was needed and made so long ago as to almost be prehistory.  Even female
? writers of English literature followed this rule without complaint.

I don't think there must be a uniform choice to be unambiguous.
Consider that many traditional `Women's Magazines' usually use `she'
and `her' to refer to their readers, even tho it is quite likely that
at least one male will read the article.

? If anything, you could say that this rule discriminates against males,
? because in some cases it can be difficult to tell whether "he" refers to
? a person explicitly male or just to a generic person, whereas "she"
? always unambiguously indicates a female.

Interesting point. I suppose we should bring up the distinction of
Miss/Mrs. vs having only Mr. for men. Supposedly, there is also the
title `Master' for men as well, but it seems to have died out.

? To say that the rule in any way reflects unfavorably on females
? would be ludicrous were it not for the adverse effect on readability
? that this widespread belief is now having.

There is more widespread evidence that it really IS starting to bother
some female readers and writers. 

? If you think English is bad, I advise you to steer clear of Spanish,
? where even inanimate objects are either masculine or feminine.

Really. Sometimes they don't make any sense at all.

? Folks, it really doesn't matter so long as the rules are consistently
? applied, to maximize readability.  By messing around with the language
? in a blatant attempt to foist political ideas on the general public,
? a severe disservice to the English-speaking population is being done.

For an excellent treatise on the subject by one of our own, see
`Metamagical Themas', by Douglas Hofstadter. One of his essays uses
`ble' and `whe' to differentiate between black and white speakers, and
in spite of my general distaste for awkwardly convoluting the language
as some people have I was quite impressed.

	(Root Boy) Jim Cottrell	(301) 975-5688
	<rbj at nav.icst.nbs.gov> or <rbj at icst-cmr.arpa>
	Crackers and Works -- Breakfast of Champions!