RE: His/Her v. Their

Subject: RE: His/Her v. Their
From: jimmy -at- breck-mckye -dot- com
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2012 21:20:37 +0100

What about people who don't identify as any gender at all?

They're not that common but they do still exist.

On 2012-10-26 20:32, Ben Davies wrote:

Sorry, while I deeply respect your desire to continue using "his" and
"her", I feel that a skilled writer should easily be able to remove
any reference to gender and still make the content easy to understand
for the end user. I also feel that using "his" and "her" shows a lack
of professionalism, and makes me think the writer was too lazy to come
up with something that is gender neutral.



-----Original Message-----
From: Porrello, Leonard [mailto:lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com]
Sent: October-26-12 2:21 PM
To: Ben Davies; Becca; tech2wr-l
Subject: RE: His/Her v. Their

"Aw, man, I thought the user guide would tell me how to frip the
quibble on my carbledywoop, but these instruction are written only for
women! I wonder if the manufacturer has a version written for men."

Sorry, while I deeply respect individuality and diversity, I find
dogmatic political correctness offensive, a veritable turd in the
melting pot.

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Ben Davies
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 12:07 PM
To: Becca; tech2wr-l
Subject: RE: His/Her v. Their

I don't think it is acceptable to say "his" or "her". Using either of
those shows gender discrimination, unless it is an absolute that
everyone reading your document will be of a specific gender.

If the text is third person, I suggest trying to completely remove
the possessiveness from the text.

For example

(third person with possessiveness)
To begin, cross-stitchers create a list of all the items they need
from the pattern instructions. Next, they will search through the
little floss bins that correspond to the required colors at the
nearest craft store, such as Michael's.

(third person with no possessiveness)
To begin, cross-stitchers create a list of all the items needed, from
the pattern instructions. Next, the stitchers will search through the
little floss bins that correspond to the required colors at the
nearest craft store, such as Michael's.

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References:
His/Her v. Their: From: Becca
RE: His/Her v. Their: From: Ben Davies
RE: His/Her v. Their: From: Porrello, Leonard
RE: His/Her v. Their: From: Ben Davies

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