English neutral pronouns: Difference between revisions
→He: Removed a person who no longer goes by he pronouns, and added another one who does.
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'''he, him, his, his, himself'''. Often called male pronouns, grammarians acknowledge that this standard set of pronouns can also be used as gender-neutral or gender-inclusive pronouns for unspecified persons, such as in instructions and legal documents. In the eighteenth century, when prescriptive grammarians decided that "singular they" was no longer acceptable as a gender-neutral pronoun, they instead recommended "gender-neutral he." "Prescriptive grammarians have been calling for 'he' as the gender-neutral pronoun of choice since at least 1745, when a British schoolmistress named Anne Fisher laid down the law in ''A New Grammar''."<ref name="bustillos 250"></ref> The use of "gender-neutral he" can make problems in how laws are interpreted, because it's unclear whether it is meant to be gender-inclusive or male-only. For example, in 1927, "the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that women were not persons because its statutes referred to 'persons' with male pronouns."<ref>"Pronoun perspectives." ''Gender neutral pronoun blog.'' [https://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com/links/pronoun-perspectives/ https://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com/links/pronoun-perspectives/]</ref><ref>Geoffrey Pullum, "Canada Supreme Court Gets the Grammar Right." ''Language Log.'' August 18. 2004. [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html]</ref> In the USA in the nineteenth century, suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought for laws to stop using the "gender-neutral he," because there were cases where this pronoun had been arbitrarily interpreted as a "male he" in order to exclude women from legal protections, or from the right to a license that they had passed exams for. This abuse of legal language happened even in if the documents explicitly said that "he" was meant to include women.<ref name="bustillos 250"></ref> Thanks to the work in the 1970s by feminists Casey Miller and Kate Swift, "gender-neutral he" has been significantly phased out of use, replaced by the more inclusive [[English neutral pronouns#He or she|he or she]].<ref>Elizabeth Isele, "Casey Miller and Kate Swift: Women Who Dared To Disturb the Lexicon." ''Women in Literature and Life Assembly,'' Vol. 3, Fall 1994. [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/old-WILLA/fall94/h2-isele.html]</ref> | '''he, him, his, his, himself'''. Often called male pronouns, grammarians acknowledge that this standard set of pronouns can also be used as gender-neutral or gender-inclusive pronouns for unspecified persons, such as in instructions and legal documents. In the eighteenth century, when prescriptive grammarians decided that "singular they" was no longer acceptable as a gender-neutral pronoun, they instead recommended "gender-neutral he." "Prescriptive grammarians have been calling for 'he' as the gender-neutral pronoun of choice since at least 1745, when a British schoolmistress named Anne Fisher laid down the law in ''A New Grammar''."<ref name="bustillos 250"></ref> The use of "gender-neutral he" can make problems in how laws are interpreted, because it's unclear whether it is meant to be gender-inclusive or male-only. For example, in 1927, "the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that women were not persons because its statutes referred to 'persons' with male pronouns."<ref>"Pronoun perspectives." ''Gender neutral pronoun blog.'' [https://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com/links/pronoun-perspectives/ https://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com/links/pronoun-perspectives/]</ref><ref>Geoffrey Pullum, "Canada Supreme Court Gets the Grammar Right." ''Language Log.'' August 18. 2004. [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html]</ref> In the USA in the nineteenth century, suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought for laws to stop using the "gender-neutral he," because there were cases where this pronoun had been arbitrarily interpreted as a "male he" in order to exclude women from legal protections, or from the right to a license that they had passed exams for. This abuse of legal language happened even in if the documents explicitly said that "he" was meant to include women.<ref name="bustillos 250"></ref> Thanks to the work in the 1970s by feminists Casey Miller and Kate Swift, "gender-neutral he" has been significantly phased out of use, replaced by the more inclusive [[English neutral pronouns#He or she|he or she]].<ref>Elizabeth Isele, "Casey Miller and Kate Swift: Women Who Dared To Disturb the Lexicon." ''Women in Literature and Life Assembly,'' Vol. 3, Fall 1994. [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/old-WILLA/fall94/h2-isele.html]</ref> | ||
'''Use for real non-binary people:''' There are non-binary people who ask to be called by "he" pronouns, such as comedian [[Nonbinary celebrities#Eddie Izzard|Eddie Izzard]], writer [[Nonbinary celebrities#Richard O'Brien|Richard O'Brien]], | '''Use for real non-binary people:''' There are non-binary people who ask to be called by "he" pronouns, such as comedian [[Nonbinary celebrities#Eddie Izzard|Eddie Izzard]], writer [[Nonbinary celebrities#Richard O'Brien|Richard O'Brien]], autobiographer [[Jennie June]], and guitarist [[Nonbinary celebrities#Pete Townshend|Pete Townshend]]. | ||
'''Forms:''' | '''Forms:''' | ||