# Gender neutral pronouns: he or she, s/he, they?



## olive6

Hi, everyone, 
I'm Marianna from Hungary.
I'm working on my thesis right now, and I've encountered a little problem. When I refer to a subject (in particular a person) whose gender is not relevant, and I continue the sentence with a personal pronoun, shall I use "he or she", the somewhat weird-looking "s/he" or rather the plural form "they"?

an example: When someone starts learning a languag_e s/he has to _know... etc. OR When someone starts learning a language, _they have to_ know... etc.

As far as I know, this latter form is used in contemporary American English in favour of political correctness. But I don't know whether it's formal or informal. And what I really don't know is if it's used in academic British English. 
I prefer American English, but decided to write my thesis in BrE, since it is preferred at the university. Whatever the case, it's a shame I've never ever heard about this form in any of my university classes, nor have I heard any of my teachers use it. Maybe it's because they prefer BrE...? Or are they not up-to-date enough in this field...? So I just have this problem... 
Thanks for your kind help in advance!


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## drei_lengua

olive6 said:
			
		

> Hi, everyone,
> I'm Marianna from Hungary.
> I'm working on my thesis right now, and I've encountered a little problem. When I refer to a subject (in particular a person) whose gender is not relevant, and I continue the sentence with a personal pronoun, shall I use "he or she", the somewhat weird-looking "s/he" or rather the plural form "they"?
> 
> an example: When someone starts learning a languag_e s/he has to _know... etc. OR When someone starts learning a language, _they have to_ know... etc.
> 
> As far as I know, this latter form is used in contemporary American English in favour of political correctness. But I don't know whether it's formal or informal. And what I really don't know is if it's used in academic British English.
> I prefer American English, but decided to write my thesis in BrE, since it is preferred at the university. Whatever the case, it's a shame I've never ever heard about this form in any of my university classes, nor have I heard any of my teachers use it. Maybe it's because they prefer BrE...? Or are they not up-to-date enough in this field...? So I just have this problem...
> Thanks for your kind help in advance!


 
Hello olive6,
From an AE standpoint you could alternate between he and she and put a note at the beginning of your thesis indicating that you intentionally alternated between the two.  I have seen this in a number of non-fiction books.  I do not like "they" because the singular vs. plural doesn't match.

Drei


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## jinti

A common solution is to change everything to plural:


> When someone starts learning a languag_e s/he has to _know...


 When people/students/adults/etc. start to learn a language, they have to know....

Alternatively, you could provide a disclaimer in the beginning of your paper -- something to the effect that while your examples and arguments apply equally to both genders, for the sake of ease of reading, you will use only the male pronouns or only the female.

Drei's suggestion is a common and certainly viable solution as well, but to me (just a personal observation), the switching back and forth always disturbs the flow a bit. But there are probably many people who would disagree with me....


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## olive6

Thank you very much for your suggestions. So if I understand well, the use of _they_ after a singular subject is rather colloquial? Then I should avoid it, by all means, shouldn't I? And is it particularly AmE or is it used in the UK, as well?
I can't believe that this topic is neglected in our courses, although I study at a very good university...


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## Tatzingo

Hi,

From a BrEng point of view, all i can tell you is that THEY is very frequently used in this context. It's far more convenient than writing s/he but this usage might be more academic?

Tatz.


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## jinti

olive6 said:
			
		

> Thank you very much for your suggestions. So if I understand well, the use of _they_ after a singular subject is rather colloquial? Then I should avoid it, by all means, shouldn't I?


 
Yes, it is colloquial (although also very common), and at least in the US, you should definitely avoid it in academic writing.  It's one of those things that everyone says, but no one puts on paper in formal writing (a little like _gonna_, _wanna_, etc.).


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## olive6

Tatzingo said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> From a BrEng point of view, all i can tell you is that THEY is very frequently used in this context. It's far more convenient than writing s/he but this usage might be more academic?
> 
> Tatz.


Thank you for your reply. So do you mean that _s/he_ is academic language? If it is so, I might stick to it, since I'm using BrE in my paper and this is actually what I've been taught...  I just didn't know if  the use of 'they' is acceptable or even recommended...


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## olive6

jinti said:
			
		

> Yes, it is colloquial (although also very common), and at least in the US, you should definitely avoid it in academic writing.  It's one of those things that everyone says, but no one puts on paper in formal writing (a little like _gonna_, _wanna_, etc.).



   Thank you, that's what I wanted to know. So it is not to be used in an academic paper.


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## panjandrum

Marianna,
Welcome to these forums, I hope you find them both useful and enjoyable.

This particular issue has been discussed often here, without any really satisfactory outcome.  It is often possible to avoid the problem completely by re-wording the sentence (jinti's plural subject suggestion is very useful).  But this isn't always possible.

If you can find another thesis submitted to the same instution and written in English, you may be able to see what they accept.  Even better, if you could find a paper written by someone from your faculty


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## olive6

panjandrum said:
			
		

> Marianna,
> Welcome to these forums, I hope you find them both useful and enjoyable.
> 
> This particular issue has been discussed often here, without any really satisfactory outcome.  It is often possible to avoid the problem completely by re-wording the sentence (jinti's plural subject suggestion is very useful).  But this isn't always possible.
> 
> If you can find another thesis submitted to the same instution and written in English, you may be able to see what they accept.  Even better, if you could find a paper written by someone from your faculty



Oh, my God! What a great suggestion, I can't believe it hasn't come to my mind... (I'm blonde...haha  ) 
I just joined this forum today, and I'm already in love with it! The things that are discussed here are very interesting. It's just the sort of thing I like to deal with.  But there's a tiny little problem with this forum... It just won't let me get back to my thesis... I've been reading it for about an hour or even more when I should be writing... So I'll try to log out now. 
Thanks for you help and suggestions!


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## DaleC

My impression is that "s/he" is passé. That leaves "he", "he or she", and "they". 

This issue has been discussed already in the forum, although your angle (asking about BE in particular) may be a fresh one.


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## olive6

DaleC said:
			
		

> My impression is that "s/he" is passé. That leaves "he", "he or she", and "they".
> 
> This issue has been discussed already in the forum, although your angle (asking about BE in particular) may be a fresh one.



  Thank you for teaching me a new word. (passé)   
So now the question is if 's/he' is passé only  in the US or in the UK, as well...?


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## cuchuflete

Welcome to the forums Marianna,
Dale C has given good advice.  I don't know BE convention for formal writing, but in AE the key thing is to know if your professor is rabidly PC (politically correct).  If that's the case, just forget grammar and style and feed him or her what is desired.

If you are fortunate enough to have faculty who are more concerned with logical content and clear communication, you may feel free to use he, she, they, 'he or she' or reword the sentence to avoid the entire issue.


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## olive6

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> Welcome to the forums Marianna,
> Dale C has given good advice.  I don't know BE convention for formal writing, but in AE the key thing is to know if your professor is rabidly PC (politically correct).  If that's the case, just forget grammar and style and feed him or her what is desired.
> 
> If you are fortunate enough to have faculty who are more concerned with logical content and clear communication, you may feel free to use he, she, they, 'he or she' or reword the sentence to avoid the entire issue.



Thank you!  What you've written sounds very reasonable. 
Btw, I think my no one at my faculty is far too concerned with political correctness, except for maybe the few American professors.


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## drei_lengua

Hello olive6,
If you are unable to find a sample usage in your professors' writings I would just ask them.  Like the others mentioned, your content and logic are much more important than choosing they, he, she, s/he, etc.  Definitely do whatever it takes to please your professors.  In other words, employ the usage they like regardless of who agrees with it.  This goes back to knowing your audience.  If your professors are all female, you could use "she" everywhere.  

Know your audience!!   

p.s. Welcome to the forum.  It is nice to have a Hungarian (new nationality represented on the forum from what I have seen)   

Drei


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## timpeac

Hi Olive

When I was at uni - not all _that_ long ago - using "they" would have been looked down on as too colloquial, I'm fairly sure. In an academic work "he" is quite acceptable - eventhough it may look sexist or strange - I'd say.


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## yuxtapuesta

I'm in university and have done a mountain of academic writing in three main fields (agricultural sciences, biological sciences, and linguistics/literature/etc).  I would _never_ use "they" in this context; it's far too colloquial.  I also would never use s/he.  Looks terrible.  Rather, I would say one and depending on the tastes of the person who will be grading this, I would incorporate the passive voice.  

EG You might say "when one learns a language..."
Or "When learning a language, one must..."

Hope this helps, and good luck


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## mjscott

Another voice--if only to confuse you more:

When doing my thesis, I changed _all_ my subjects to plural (unless specifically pinpointing one particular subject) so that I didn't have to deal with the political correctness of he/she. As a personal note, I find it equally awkward to use the passive voice (just my opinion). Miss Manners, a syndicated newspaper columnist uses the passive voice: _"When one is dining with a large silver setting at one's table, one must start from the outside and work one's way to the plate...." _(sounds awkward to me)

If there is no one scrutinizing the thesis for political correctness and you don't want to make all subjects plural, I would stick with *he* as the subject. It is acceptable. Under no circumstances would I use a singular subject and a plural verb, even though it's done in conversational English (for the very reasons you're stating) all the time.
Good luck!

PS-Had the same problem with WR Forum when I was getting my paper done--(Way too much more interesting, engaging and stimulating than looking at my shifting piles of research and slowly trying to build it into something)!


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## yuxtapuesta

mjscott--That's also a good idea.  I like it.
For me, with a little help from trusty circumlocution, passive + one doesn't need to sound as awkward and silly as Miss Manners makes it sound


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## CAMullen

Such a popular topic! Maybe this forum should have the first search result of "gender-neutral pronouns" I found on Google: http://www.aetherlumina.com/gnp/ which even contains whole, newly invented pronouns.

Personally, I don't see why inanimate objects should be discriminated against. We should all use "he/she/it." No wait - why should the male come first? It should be "she/it/he." No,...


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## mjscott

You are right, CAMullen--I will check out the link. Usually one pronoun is used over the other if only for the sake of not being awkward. Every sentence in these papers is already so tedious--to add pronoun/verb agreement just adds one more pretzel your brain has to contort to accommodate.

Back in the past, when the pronoun was in the subjective case, I used _*he*--_because it came first in the dictionary (before *she*). If it was in the objective case, I used *her* first--because *her* comes before *him* in the dictionary.  Still--awkward at best to read....


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## drei_lengua

It is interesting to note that such confusion does not exist in other languages where each noun has its specific gender.  Only our own English is plagued.

Drei


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## timpeac

drei_lengua said:
			
		

> It is interesting to note that such confusion does not exist in other languages where each noun has its specific gender. Only our own English is plagued.
> 
> Drei


 
Well - I think in the past it was the same for English - we used "he" for "someone" "anyone" just as we use "il" for "quelqu'un" in French for example. Perhaps political correctness struck English first in terms of worrying about using "he" for an unknown person.


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## mariposita

Just to come back around, I think the first solution thrown out is the most elegant and it is the one that many non-fiction publishers are adopting. That is, to alternate between _he _and _she_. I think it works best when implemented in blocks of text. For example, use _he_ in one section or chapter, _she _in the next.


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## gaer

mjscott said:
			
		

> Another voice--if only to confuse you more:
> 
> When doing my thesis, I changed _all_ my subjects to plural (unless specifically pinpointing one particular subject) so that I didn't have to deal with the political correctness of he/she. As a personal note, I find it equally awkward to use the passive voice (just my opinion). Miss Manners, a syndicated newspaper columnist uses the passive voice: _"When one is dining with a large silver setting at one's table, one must start from the outside and work one's way to the plate...." _(sounds awkward to me)


I agree. So far I have always been able to reword sentences by switching to plural, as you suggested, to "dance around" the problem.

However, I do always like to mention this, to show how absurd the "they" problem can be:

Everyone I invited came to my birthday party, and he gave me really nice presents too. 

Gaer


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## elroy

mjscott said:
			
		

> As a personal note, I find it equally awkward to use the passive voice (just my opinion). Miss Manners, a syndicated newspaper columnist uses the passive voice: _"When one is dining with a large silver setting at one's table, one must start from the outside and work one's way to the plate...." _(sounds awkward to me)


 
Passive voice?  These sentences are in the active voice.  
But I agree that they sound awkward; too many "one"s in succession can get annoying.


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## gaer

elroy said:
			
		

> Passive voice? These sentences are in the active voice.
> But I agree that they sound awkward; too many "one"s in succession can get annoying.


I agree. I recently read "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde, and the narrative was full of such sentences. This style was much more comomon a century ago or so.


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## Brioche

olive6 said:
			
		

> Hi, everyone,
> I'm Marianna from Hungary.
> I'm working on my thesis right now, and I've encountered a little problem. When I refer to a subject (in particular a person) whose gender is not relevant, and I continue the sentence with a personal pronoun, shall I use "he or she", the somewhat weird-looking "s/he" or rather the plural form "they"?
> 
> an example: When someone starts learning a languag_e s/he has to _know... etc. OR When someone starts learning a language, _they have to_ know... etc.
> 
> As far as I know, this latter form is used in contemporary American English in favour of political correctness. But I don't know whether it's formal or informal. And what I really don't know is if it's used in academic British English.
> I prefer American English, but decided to write my thesis in BrE, since it is preferred at the university. Whatever the case, it's a shame I've never ever heard about this form in any of my university classes, nor have I heard any of my teachers use it. Maybe it's because they prefer BrE...? Or are they not up-to-date enough in this field...? So I just have this problem...
> Thanks for your kind help in advance!


 
The best thing to do is ask your supervisor what is the correct thing to do.

Nearly all, it not all, tertiary institutions have style guides which set out their policy on this matter.


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## kota

I hate to be writing ‘he/she’ and ‘his/her’ in research or in any of my writings but when I simply use ‘he’ and ‘his’ to refer to any individual, I find the remark ‘gender sensitive’ in my writings. What do you think is proper?


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## Neever

This is a difficult one.  In my opinion, using both "his/her" or "he/she" the whole time is a bit clumsy, and i don't like using "their" for "his/her".  Some people pick either the feminine or the masculine and use that the whole way through, putting a note at the start that this is what they are going to do, for reasons of economy, and is not meant offensively.  That is what I do, and it is considered acceptable by lots (most?) of people.


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## Pinkbeads

This is tricky.  I agree that "he/she", or "he or she" can seem clumsy, and does not read well.  However, it also offends me slightly when "he" is used all the time.  Neever's suggestion of putting a note explaining your motives is acceptable, but I don't know if it would work in all types of text (?)  

I have also read a text where the author alternated between he and she for each example.  Again I'm not sure how this would work for different types of text - in this particular text it worked quite well because it was giving examples of particular situations in a list format.

Also, I don't think it is correct to use "their" in place of "he/she".

I have never really decided on an approach that I am 100% satisfied with either!


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## JennR

It is topic of much debate and one that's not likely to find any resolution. I remember writer-editors arguing about this topic 18 years ago and it wasn't just he/she, it was guys, gals, girls, boys, etc...

I never took issue with "he" being used, and never found it offensive to my feminine sensibilites. I'm more interested in the content of the document that I am reading. I never found "he" to be a slam against me as a woman.

I find it jarring seeing the vast majority of written material I've read recently using "she". I don't find it offensive, just that I am not used to it and I can't help but notice it to the point that it disrupts the flow of my reading; just like "he/she". I suppose it's all a matter of what one is used to, what one learned in school, and what one thinks is important.

Personally, when I write, I will use the gender with which I am comfortable and works with my target audience.

Pax


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## kota

Same with me, JennR,
>>>>> I will use the gender with which I am comfortable and works with my target audience.


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## Blackleaf

Rebecca Hendry said:
			
		

> I would use she/he or he/she.
> 
> (s)he is also commonly used, but I don't think I have ever encountered s/he.


 
What happens if you want to speak it rather than write it?

What English really needs is a version of he/she/it that can be used when you don't know the gender of the person you are talking about, rather than using the plural "they" as many people do.


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## timpeac

Blackleaf said:
			
		

> What happens if you want to speak it rather than write it?
> 
> What English really needs is a version of he/she/it that can be used when you don't know the gender of the person you are talking about, rather than using the plural "they" as many people do.


They have the singular "they". "They" is not solely a plural reference even if the verb form is traditionally analysed as plural. See above for a greater discussion.


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## gaer

Right in this thread is the answer:

link

To me it is pointless to talk about this whole subject before learning the facts first, and everything I have read agrees with the information on this page. 

Gaer


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## SuprunP

In a classic experiment, Piaget poured equal amounts of water in a tall, narrow glass and a short, wide one, only to have *children* claim the taller one had more. Yet later experiments by others found that if a child poured the water *herself*, *she *was more likely to understand the two glasses were equal, suggesting that physical manipulation helps thinking.
(Scientific American Mind; Volume 14, Number 5 (2004); Toying with Creativity, Karla Adam)



> _He_ used to be considered to cover both men and women: ▪ Everyone needs to feel he is loved. *This is not now acceptable*. (Emphasis is mine)
> Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 8th Edition



 I'm not sure whether something written in 2004 is already too old and totally inadequate to represent the state of the English language of 2012, but is there a growing tendency to use 'she' where one, taking into account that 'he' seems to be no longer acceptable, expects 'they'? 

If I may voice my opinion, I would consider it to be rather unfair to 'prohibit' "he" to simply begin using "she", which, as it were, contradicts the very basics of why "he" has fallen out of favour in the first place.

Thanks.


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## morzh

No, no one prohibits anything.

When you read articles, dealing with undetermined gender of subjects, like magazines for parents, medical publications etc, they use "he" and "she" in turn, describing an abstract child.

They may use "she" one moment, and then use "he" in the next paragraph.

- When a child plays, she may accidentally hurt herself.
- When a child eats, he is likely to make a mess.

Also, depending on personal preferences of the author, he or she may be more inclined to use "he" or "she" in his or her writing.


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## JoanTaber

I use singular they—which has quite a noble history in English—or I reconstruct the sentence to avoid using so-called generic "he." I might add that I've angered more than one man by jokingly pointing out that "she" is now the generic term of choice. I don't understand why there is such resistance to language change or why feminists and liberals are uttered with such spittle and ire. 

By all means, use generic "he"; it will sound a little quaint, a bit old-fashioned perhaps. It will not be prohibited; a good copyeditor, however, might suggest changes.


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## natkretep

What goes into published works is sometimes determined by the stylesheet rather than the individual author's choice. Many stylesheets that I have looked at insist on 'inclusive gender', and therefore in general advocate the use of the plural forms in place of 'he' or for that matter 'she'.

In some places, the author might deliberately choose one consistently to avoid ambiguity - for example, in a book on teaching, the author might consistently use 'she' for the teacher and 'he' for the pupil.


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## ewie

JoanTaber said:


> By all means, use generic "he"; it will sound a little quaint, a bit old-fashioned perhaps. It will not be prohibited


_That_'s a relief.


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## Maroseika

Hi,

What can be the reason for using "fetus" and "newborn" as the female nouns as in:

The reason is that, unlike the case of death of an existing person, failing to bring a new person into existence does not prevent anyone from accomplishing any of *her* future aims.


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## Copyright

Tell us the source and we can perhaps give you an answer.


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## DocPenfro

There are numerous existing threads on this subject.  Try typing "he or she" in the search box at the top of this page.


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## Maroseika

DocPenfro said:


> There are numerous existing threads on this subject.  Try typing "he or she" in the search box at the top of this page.


Thank you for your kind advice, but unfortunately I failed to find the answer to _my _question there.  



Copyright said:


> Tell us the source and we can perhaps give you an answer.


I've already provided the link, but here is it again.
When used the first time this pronoun was italicised, so the authors should have meant something very special, I guess.


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## Copyright

Maroseika said:


> I've already provided the link, but here is it again.
> When used the first time this pronoun was italicised, so the authors should have meant something very special, I guess.



While we appreciate links, they have a habit of disappearing, so we ask that you name your source with actual words, like this:

Journal of Medical Ethics
Law, ethics and medicine
Paper
_After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?

_Failing to bring a new person into existence cannot be compared with the wrong caused by procuring the death of an existing person. The reason is that, unlike the case of death of an existing person, failing to bring a new person into existence does not prevent anyone from accomplishing any of her future aims. 

"Her" in "her future aims" refers to the mother. Is that what you're asking?


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## Maroseika

Copyright said:


> "Her" in "her future aims" refers to the mother. Is that what you're asking?


No, 'her' refers to "anyone", i.e. a newborn or a fetus, who still cannot have any aims due to his (her?) lack of the consciousness. Here is more clear example:

"It is not possible to damage a newborn by preventing her from developing the potentiality to become a person in the morally relevant sense".


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## DocPenfro

Try this link: this is the one that I hoped you would be able to find.

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=605122&p=941399#post941399


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## Copyright

Maroseika said:


> No, 'her' refers to "anyone", i.e. a newborn or a fetus, who still cannot have any aims due to his (her?) lack of the consciousness.



Yes, it does (after reading much more of the article). Perhaps Dr Francesca Minerva was able to convince her collaborator that "he" was being overused and that "her" might help balance the linguistic books. I don't really know the reason. There is an email address for the doctor -- if you don't get a satisfactory answer here, you might consider writing her.


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## Keith Bradford

Do you want a grammatical explanation or a practical one?

*Grammatically*, the reasons for using "she" have been dealt with in the other threads (see #3 above).

*Practically*, perhaps the author, Francesca Minerva, is trying to grind a political axe.  She is making a case for the right of a mother to kill her newborn baby. Either to appear a radical feminist she always uses "she" out of reflex action when offered the choice; or in order not to appear a radical feminist, she uses "she" for both mother and baby regardless.  The fact that this makes her text confusing has not occurred to her.  

(Which explanation is valid?  Search me.  I have little patience with either her grammar or her politics.)


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## Maroseika

Thank you for your answers. 
Actually I suspected there were more reasonable grounds for this "her", such as personification of ship, country, airplane, moon or sun.


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## Copyright

Maroseika said:


> Thank you for your answers.
> Actually I suspected there were more reasonable grounds for this "her", such as personification of ship, country, airplane, moon or sun.


I don't think so.


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## LilianaB

The sentence does not seen too idiomatic, if this is the exact quotation The doctor's first language is Italian, maybe it has something to do with that. The other possibility would be what we have recently discussed that some people refer to newborns by the feminine pronoun: she. Person is feminine in Italian.


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## lucas-sp

Keith Bradford said:


> Do you want a grammatical explanation or a practical one?
> 
> *Grammatically*, the reasons for using "she" have been dealt with in the other threads (see #3 above).
> 
> *Practically*, perhaps the author, Francesca Minerva, is trying to grind a political axe.  She is making a case for the right of a mother to kill her newborn baby. Either to appear a radical feminist she always uses "she" out of reflex action when offered the choice; or in order not to appear a radical feminist, she uses "she" for both mother and baby regardless.  The fact that this makes her text confusing has not occurred to her.
> 
> (Which explanation is valid?  Search me.  I have little patience with either her grammar or her politics.)


The argument seems radical, but is it "radically feminist"? Only inasmuch as present politics have defined abortion as a women's health issue (rather than a human rights issue tout court). Actually, the accompanying materials make it clear that medical infanticide isn't that unheard-of. Odd!

And in academic and scientific journals, it is still not permissible to use a singular third-person "they"; it is similarly no longer standard to use a simple "he" in these situations. Various solutions exist: using all "she," alternating "she" and "he" every paragraph, and using "he or she."

I was surprised to find that the JME doesn't have a house style. This recent article uses "he or she":





> If one person cares less about health than other goods, then he or she can choose to buy less insurance. (​http://jme.bmj.com/content/38/4/243.full)


You see authors going through rhetorical gymnastics so as to avoid using third-person singular pronouns all the time. "She" is just one accepted solution among many. I don't think you have to attack someone's politics on the basis of what's really, in this particular field, an understood quirk of style.


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## LilianaB

Hi, Lucas. Are you trying to say that the new academic style of some publications will call for the use of he in reference to a baby, for example, in some paragraphs and the use of she in other paragraphs? This is a little bit strange, to tell you the truth.


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## Keith Bradford

lucas-sp said:


> ... I don't think you have to attack someone's politics on the basis of what's really, in this particular field, an understood quirk of style.



It wasn't an attack, it was a hypothesis.  I don't know what her motives are, I just dislike the grammatical result.


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## lucas-sp

LilianaB said:


> the new academic style of some publications will call for the use of he in reference to a baby, for example, in some paragraphs and the use of she in other paragraphs? This is a little bit strange, to tell you the truth.


Not "to a baby." In a situation where the third-person singular pronoun _has_ to be used, some authors will choose to alternate between he and she. So you could have something like "The book calls on the reader to examine her preconceptions..." and then in the next instance of the pronoun "The typical citizen was given his place in the social grid through..." (bad sentences, sorry).

This is because the fairest solution, using "he or she" ("him or her," "his or her") in all these moments, is _really_ clunky to read. So some authors/journals/books distribute "he or she" across the text. Others go with just "she," for the whole text. 

However, if there is a constant scene (like between therapist and client) being discussed in an article, an author might distribute pronouns so as to clarify the text. For instance, the therapist could always be referred to as "she" and the client as "he." This would break "the rules" but would be much easier for the reader to understand.

Unlike KB and others, I've read so many academic articles that I don't notice this formula as jarring or shocking or distasteful. (And I'm sympathetic to some of its reasons for being.) And I didn't have a problem reading the original sentence. I immediately linked "she" back to "anyone" and "person."


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## LilianaB

Thank you. This is something new to me.


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## morzh

Pick any parenting magazine. You will find lots of this in there.

I also found out the "he" or 'she" usually persists for a paragraph, then switches and persists for another paragraph, and so it toggles almost every paragraph. Which is logical; in the same paragraph "he/she" change for the same genderless baby would look weird.


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## Keith Bradford

morzh said:


> ... in the same paragraph "he/she" change for the same genderless baby would look weird.



The problem is that logical arguments and the sense of an article don't toggle from paragraph to paragraph.  Paragraphs are a solution in printing to break down a continuous argument into discontinuous sections that are easier on the eye and the mind.  They are supposed to make the argument easier to follow.  However if the subject changes sex from paragraph to paragraph, it makes the argument harder to follow. (Toggling from chapter to chapter in a lbook is much more understandable.)  However, this is an example of respect for the gender-identity of a hypothetical child, taking precedence over respect for the reader, in order to flaunt the political correctness of the writer.

A more honest approach would be either to use "it" for the unspecified infant, or to state in a preamble that "he" was going to be used regardless.  (And why not "she"?  Because of course "she" is being used for the mother throughout.)

The purpose of writing should be to convey ideas with clarity and courtesy.  In this particular instance, I think it's failed.


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