[lit-ideas] Re: The Serpent's Club
- From: Robert.Paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Robert Paul)
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: 13 Mar 2004 15:53:13 PST
JL Speranza twits me:
>And I suppose _she_ may, too, so long as _she_ remembers...<
As a veteran of the Pronoun Wars which began when women, or spokeswomen for
women, objected to masculine pronouns' being the default settings in speech and
writing, I find myself now mostly indifferent to the whole issue. What then
seemed blows for freedom and equality now seem to me sly distractions in the
battle for the hearts and minds of journalists and academicians. (For who else
is paying attention?)
I've trained myself to say unselfconsciously 'he or she,' 'his or her,' etc.,
but sometimes in writing the repetition of these duty-sharing pairs is
oppressive, and I either alternate between one or the other or choose one or the
other and stick with it, as here.
The Pronoun Wars have given us 'If a person has measles then their skin will
have spots,' 'If someone exercises vigorously, they will sweat,' and other
infelicities, but to object to them is to appear to be a curmudgeon or worse,
not as regards grammar but as regards sexual equality.
So, in my own little corner, indifferent to the demands of Pronoun Imperialism,
I will sometimes choose economy and sense over fairness. A fat lot of good it
does.
Robert Paul
Reed Technische Hochschule
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
