Quote:
Originally Posted by whitearrow
My username is gender neutral and I'm confused for a man all the time, especially in forums like AVS and flyertalk that are mostly male spaces (less so here, but I'm sure it will happen eventually). It makes me laugh, and if I'm called "he" I will sometimes gently correct, but yes, elfwreck and amalthia are right -- there is a "male" assumption
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That is how English works, the male pronoun is also used as the markless one, for something of definite but unknown gender. Referring to you as he does not necessarily imply the poster thinks you are male.
Is this antiquated, maybe, but that is the fault of the language, not those using it.
I tend towards the singular-they solution, even though it can be rather ambiguous in some circumstances. Certainly beats 'it', or any of the invented pronouns. As:
In Elfwreck's case, the reason they are mistaken for male may be that 'they have' a masculine-appearing avatar. (Rather than 'he has')