Biological sex and gender identity: differences and overlaps

[jeevey]

There are some genderqueer folks who use exactly that, like vocalist CN Lester, who identifies as neither male nor female and uses the pronoun they. CN Lester I think it works fine, except for the urge to pluralize all the verbs to match the pronoun. They even wrote a blog post on this exact subject AND Piers Morgan recently, and it's pretty smart. a gentleman and a scholar | trans politics, too many books, a great deal of music, assorted ephemera Not that it matters, but I also think Lester is rather gorgeous.

[bono_212]

I don't mind the idea at all, actually. I hate saying he or she... Takes too much time.

Maybe I'll start dropping Xe in conversations. I'm sure I'd confuse everyone around me, lol.

[digitize]

English needs a good gender-neutral pronoun. I think some textbooks would say that it's "he", but I'm not a fan of that for obvious reasons. "They" is bad unless the verbs are switched to singular, which makes one sound stupid. I tend to use "she" for abstract people, but there's a small segment of the population (non-binary people and the like) who (understandably) may take issue with that.

[Galeongirl]

Just use it. That's pretty much what we in Dutch and in French and German use for the gender neutral form.

[jeevey]

"They" does seem to be gaining quickly for singular usage, especially when the person is unidentified like in "Somebody needs go pick up their dirty socks." It seems like the switch could possibly happen somewhat naturally. Is that true, GG, that you use a plural pronoun for a GN singular? I never knew.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by digitize

English needs a good gender-neutral pronoun. I think some textbooks would say that it's "he", but I'm not a fan of that for obvious reasons. "They" is bad unless the verbs are switched to singular, which makes one sound stupid. I tend to use "she" for abstract people, but there's a small segment of the population (non-binary people and the like) who (understandably) may take issue with that.

what about "one"?

[Galeongirl]

Originally Posted by jeevey

"They" does seem to be gaining quickly for singular usage, especially when the person is unidentified like in "Somebody needs go pick up their dirty socks." It seems like the switch could possibly happen somewhat naturally. Is that true, GG, that you use a plural pronoun for a GN singular? I never knew.

In Dutch we basically have he/she/it, where it is also used for animals (though if the gender is known it is used as well but not mandatory or something).
We also have different words for the, not as bad as the gazillion German versions though. We have De, Het and Een. They are sorta gender separated like de is male, het is female and een is genderless, but it's not as strict as say the French language where le is always male, la female and les genderless.

The only person using They as singular usage here is the Queen. Pardon me, king. Man it's been nearly a year but it still confuses. We haven't had a king in over a century.

[bono_212]

Originally Posted by Galeongirl

Just use it. That's pretty much what we in Dutch and in French and German use for the gender neutral form.

I thought you meant the word "it" at first and I was like.... That would go over terribly, lol.

I don't know why it took me forever to learn this, but I actually just learned the Japanese pronouns for male and female a couple weeks ago... I've only been studying Japanese on and off since 2002. You'd think this would've come up before.

Originally Posted by Irvine511

what about "one"?

And risk sounding like a total douche?

[LemonMelon]

Originally Posted by bono_212

Maybe I'll start dropping Xe in conversations.

Originally Posted by bono_212

And risk sounding like a total douche?

[bono_212]

[digitize]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

what about "one"?

"One" would be fine with me if its use were more widely accepted.

[Galeongirl]

Originally Posted by bono_212

I thought you meant the word "it" at first and I was like.... That would go over terribly, lol.

I don't know why it took me forever to learn this, but I actually just learned the Japanese pronouns for male and female a couple weeks ago... I've only been studying Japanese on and off since 2002. You'd think this would've come up before.







And risk sounding like a total douche?

I meant the word it actually.

[bono_212]

Haha, oh! Calling someone an it is usually an insult, at least in U. S. English.

It's very cruely thrown at transgendered individuals, for example.

[Galeongirl]

Ah, well I guess you could perceive it derogatory a bit, but it usually isn't like that here.

[martha]

"They" used as a singular grates on my English-major nerves.

I'd like to see "one" get more usage.


Also, how does using words in English correctly make one a Leftist/feminist? And why is it a bad thing to be a Leftist/feminist?

[Galeongirl]

It isn't specifically that, it's just doing whatever INDY disagrees with that makes you Leftist or a Feminist.

[martha]

That actually makes much more sense.

[KhanadaRhodes]

Originally Posted by Galeongirl

We also have different words for the, not as bad as the gazillion German versions though.

hey, there's not a gazillion, only six!

(not including indefinite articles, article endings...)

[Galeongirl]

Originally Posted by KhanadaRhodes

hey, there's not a gazillion, only six!

(not including indefinite articles, article endings...)

Pfsh German is a nightmare.


At least it's not Finnish.

Originally Posted by JJAsi

[INDY500]

Originally Posted by Diemen

I'm curious what the distinction is between the personal level and a broader level that allows one to publicly decry as a larger group individuals who you would empathize with one on one.

Everyone is deserving of respect and compassion on a micro or personal level but society needs to be able to discuss issues on a macro level. Of coarse you don't shun a family member or close friend if they choose to drop out of school, suffer from substance abuse, become a single parent or other things that as a society we should continue to discourage or attach stigmas to.

You might think you're being compassionate for excusing or ignoring the cost to society but you're actually just increasing the chances of more and more individuals suffering the hardships and pathologies of these type decisions.
Society need not be made to accommodate the internal sexual confusion of so few and certainly should not add to the confusion by condoning the abolition of the idea of male and female as two distinctive sexes or promoting the idea of subjective genders.