A note on gender-neutral pronouns

[Butterfly]

A note on gender-neutral pronouns
Q Notes
by Matt Comer
10 July, 2010


http://goqnotes.com/7494/a-note-on-gender-neutral-pronouns/ 🔗


In our story on Tran, you'll notice we use the pronouns "ze," "hir" and "hirself." The pronouns are relatively new gender pronoun constructions that aren't beholden to or weighted down by any gender binary. In English, unfortunately, we have only two ways of identifying people. Each way ties that person to a male or female identity, an option that is less than optimal for some people. Further, other pronouns aren't appropriate when attempting to describe a single person in a gender-neutral way. The pronoun "it," for example, dehumanizes the subject and because "they" is plural, it's use would be grammatically incorrect when referring to an individual.