`he' vs `they'
The Problem
What pronoun to use, when the gender is unspecified?
-
- "The winning photographer will have his portfolio published."
- "The winning photographer will have their portfolio published."
-
- "The next attorney general
will have to defend his viewpoints."
- "The next attorney general
will have to defend their viewpoints."
-
- "I'm going to stop the next synchronized swimmer I see,
and kiss him on the cheek!"
- "I'm going to stop the next synchronized swimmer I see,
and kiss them on the cheek!"
-
- "After finishing your turn, your opponent will have his chance to respond."
- "After finishing your turn, your opponent will have their chance to respond."
- Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert starred in the mentioned movie:
-
"Each of the Stars of It Happened One Night won an oscar for his performance."
-
"Each of the Stars of It Happened One Night won an oscar for their performance."
[This example taken from the
American
Heritage College Dictionary,
in a usage discussion under "he".]
-
- The reader's eye shouldn't balk; good prose will be transparent to him."
- The reader's eye shouldn't balk; good prose will be transparent to them."
One Solution
The first thing to note is that the problem can usually be resolved
with a simple re-phrasing:
- "I'm going to kiss the next synchronized swimmer I see!"
- "The views of the next attorney general will be challenged."
- "Your opponent will be able to respond only after you finish your turn."
- "The reader's eye shouldn't balk; good prose is transparent."
But sometimes this isn't possible;
what alternatives are there?
Other Easier Solutions
Some approaches, and their drawbacks:
Other, less satisfactory?, approaches include:
- Defaulting to "she" isn't quite as bad; although it's wrong,
it doesn't perpetuate historical exclusions/disencouragements.
-
Alternating uses of male and female examples isn't too bad,
though personally i find that distracting when reading:
I keep thinking there is a reason why one gender or the other
has been chosen for that example.
-
"He or she" or "he/she" is admittedly a bit unwieldy.
However, after playing Magic: The Gathering a while,
all their cards using the construction "his or her"
seem entirely natural to me.
- "s/he", prounounced "she", is a nice idea.
[Heard from Donna Haraway.]
Perhaps "hisr" or "heriz" would be the other forms?
- A science fiction book (by David Brin??) used "er" for the indeterminate
form of "his/her"; it took me quite a few pages to figure it out,
and i never really grew accustomed to it within one book,
but it's a nice idea.