Gendered pronouns
Jan. 23rd, 2013 03:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackIn my recent post about a story of someone going to a job interview, I chose to use female pronouns for both the applicant and the boss, even though I think the original story I heard used "he".
FWIW, I don't remember where I heard the story, but it was presented as a parable, not a factual account, and the extent of the checking I did was to look on snopes, who didn't cite an original incident, so I assumed it was basically generic. At least one friend reckoned they DID have a citation for the original incident, in which case I should have used whichever gender was appropriate. But I was treating it as a generic "story about something that might have happened".
In fact, I don't know for sure the version I heard used "he". It might have used "they", or even named a specific person as the interviewer or the candidate. And I unfortunately probably wouldn't have remembered the difference.
But I make an effort to make generic stories using female characters if I can, because if I don't I end up using "he" all the time.
I hesitated a bit this time, because I wasn't sure if I'd accidentally send some _other_ message (would people think women less likely to be "one of the boys" at a job interview? more likely to be picky about some obscure point of etiquette?). But I always hesitate in case the connotations are wrong (eg. using a non-white-male as a villain or incompetent in a story), but decided that if I didn't do it every time I wasn't sure, I'd just be promoting "he" as the default, which is what I wanted to avoid.
And fortunately, the story seemed to come across exactly the same.
Using mixed or neutral gender pronouns is a small improvement, and something I feel bad that I decided to do, rather than something I always did automatically. But I know I don't notice when other people make small stylistic choices like that, so for once I thought I'd point it out.
FWIW, I don't remember where I heard the story, but it was presented as a parable, not a factual account, and the extent of the checking I did was to look on snopes, who didn't cite an original incident, so I assumed it was basically generic. At least one friend reckoned they DID have a citation for the original incident, in which case I should have used whichever gender was appropriate. But I was treating it as a generic "story about something that might have happened".
In fact, I don't know for sure the version I heard used "he". It might have used "they", or even named a specific person as the interviewer or the candidate. And I unfortunately probably wouldn't have remembered the difference.
But I make an effort to make generic stories using female characters if I can, because if I don't I end up using "he" all the time.
I hesitated a bit this time, because I wasn't sure if I'd accidentally send some _other_ message (would people think women less likely to be "one of the boys" at a job interview? more likely to be picky about some obscure point of etiquette?). But I always hesitate in case the connotations are wrong (eg. using a non-white-male as a villain or incompetent in a story), but decided that if I didn't do it every time I wasn't sure, I'd just be promoting "he" as the default, which is what I wanted to avoid.
And fortunately, the story seemed to come across exactly the same.
Using mixed or neutral gender pronouns is a small improvement, and something I feel bad that I decided to do, rather than something I always did automatically. But I know I don't notice when other people make small stylistic choices like that, so for once I thought I'd point it out.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-23 04:42 pm (UTC)By which I mean, yes, I guess using the "wrong" (that is steryotype confirming) wossname can indeed provoke annoyance; but obviously there are times when you are talking about a specific person and so you need to do so. I think "this wasn't my unconcious prejudice it was my RNG" is a perfectly good defense; although not quite as good as "this was a story about a specific actual person who actually has this attribute".
On the topic of "people not noticing" an author whose blog I read once complained (sorry I forget who) of an angry reader ranting that her books were "promoting homosexuality"; turns out that sometimes when you write a woman thinking lustful thoughts about men some people fail to spot/properly internalise "this is a woman's thoughts we are seeing here" that they read that as gay.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-23 04:49 pm (UTC)Oh yes, I thought that was really interesting!