"The Epicene Pronoun: The Word the Failed"--Dennis E. Baron Blog #13

In this article, it's interesting to note that several other languages have a gender-neutral pronoun for "his or her". Baron explains that in French, there are two different phrases for "his or her" and "him and her". In my opinion, "everyone", "everybody" and even "they" all imply gender neutrality, and I've never felt personally affronted by the use of one of these terms. They are less cumbersome and sound far more natural then constantly trying to say "him or her" and "he or she". One thing the article pointed out is the use of "one" as a pronoun, as in "oneself". I agree that this hasn't been the most widely used pronoun outside of formal environments or the highly educated.

Even in formal academic essays, many college students opt for the incorrect second-person pronoun "your", rather than using "one's" or "oneself". It's interesting to me that this hasn't really caught on as a gender neutral pronoun in our language as much as using "they" or "everyone".

The thing that is most sad to think about is how these gender biases came to be in our language. I really have never felt bad or offended through the use of the masculine bias in language, however, it's sad when I consider the fact that at one point, women were not considered to be any different from property. The bias came to be over the years because of the fact women were devalued and treated as less than men. So, while it may not bother people enough to be changed, the reasons behind the bias should be enough of an issue to spark change in our language.