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Originally Posted by VydorScope
Assuming this is futuristic... would those characters even think about the pronoun or would they just use he/him for everyone? Language adapts with time, so maybe it would have gone that route for them. Or she/her could happen, but probably less likely.
I would say if you want to emphasis the genderlessness, use a made up pronoun. I have read books in the past that have used some mashup of him/her and he/she to do just that. If not, use he/him.
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I would go with a made up pronoun. Using "he" affects how you perceive the character, it causes the reader to see the character as male, which isn't accurate. The same problem exists with if you use "she", it causes the reader to see the character as female, which isn't accurate either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
I think one of the things this conversation has highlighted has been that there are multiple topics/requirements/agendas appearing: genderless vs gender-neutral (gender-inclusive) vs gender-alternative-specific. Such mission-creep is one of the reasons why committees have so much trouble reaching consensus, and I don't think we're likely to do much better here.  |
Oh, I think we will be just fine. The latter two, we don't need any consensus. Until we meet genderless aliens or aliens with three or more genders, that remains in the realm of fiction, and each author can decide for themselves how to handle it. With fiction you get to examine many possibilities.
But the first one the real-world application of a genderless pronoun, that's pretty much already been settled. The language is moving to "they" whether any of us likes it or not. If we had the internet centuries ago, we might have debated the switch of "you" from a plural to a singular.