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Guy Kawasaki has it right
I started reading Guy Kawasaki today. I never read him before and only knew a little about him. The book is The Art of the Start and on page 5 he got my attention with this footnote to the word ‘HE’.
“If only defeating sexism were as simple as inserting an occasional he/she, she, her or hers. I use the masculine pronouns merely as a shortcut. Successful entrepreneurship is blind to gender. Don’t look for sexism where none exists.”
Flipping Pronouns is sexist.
One of the things that bugs me mightily is the maddening requirement to flip male and female pronouns in a book. I know why they do it. They want to be inclusive. They want to be sensitive. They don’t want to seem sexist. I say bullshit to that. Flipping pronouns is sexist in the worst way.
Admittedly, I learned English in the unenlightened dark ages but until very recently, everybody knew that the male pronoun is also the generic pronoun. (Who got cheated there?) Starting in the 60’s, strident, asexual women with little talent invented feminism and it caught on maybe because there are too many asexual, no-talent women, but I digress. Men were on the defensive and cowed. Strident, asexual women with no talent are not something you can ignore and if you are at all compassionate about your fellow human beings, you feel sorry for the poor things. Big mistake.
Sex is a no-no
Now where you used to be able to appreciate a woman for her abilities and the wonderful bonus that she was also a woman (This may sound sexist but it worked the other way around too in the old days) now it is only appropriate to appreciate her talent and woe to you if you happen to notice her sex. Life became suddenly much more difficult and it is still difficult today.
Feminists have it backwards
Everybody has assumed that women are deprived because the female pronoun is exclusively female when it is men who are deprived. You don’t always know what is intended when you see a male pronoun. Is it really referring only to men or is it all human beings? I always stumble when unexpectedly I find a female pronoun in a book when I know that all humans are intended. I feel excluded. I know that I am not female and the female pronoun is never generic. It bugs me and distracts me from the point the author is making. It excludes me and other members of the human race who just happen to be male in a way that those no-talent, asexual women were never excluded by ‘HE’.
Here’s to Guy
So thanks to Guy Kawasaki for standing up for the English language and common sense. I need to read more from this guy. How about you. Do you give it up for Guy also? I wonder if he knows anything else.
Agreed, it distracts me too when people insist on putting down ‘s/he’ or ‘she/he’ or ‘she’ sometimes depending on the context.
I am female (obviously lol) and I don’t see what the big deal is really; women can’t be men, and men can’t be women. Barring surgery. But even then…
Point I’m trying to make is that ‘sex’ is something that we’re going to notice… because of the way we’re built and wired, we’re going to be better at different things. Not to say that we Can’t do what the other sex does and vice versa (keeping strictly to abilities), but that sometimes we’ll choose not to because its not enjoyable, or we’re not as competant, or whatever. There’s no shame in being different to the opposite gender.
Inferior is another argument entirely, and in the interests of keeping this relatively short I won’t go into it too much lol, but you can be different while being equal; equality doesn’t mean you are the same, it means you’re valued the same.
In my view, at least. *ahem* ‘he’ is perfectly acceptable in the general sense and I loved the post.
.-= Heather´s last blog ..Daydreams; Responsible for paint-covered Tai Chi practitioners in ninja suits =-.
Heather,
Great to hear your reaction. I was worried about how women would take this.
I’m sure there are some people that’ll take offence, but I think you’ll find in general that most women would be ok with it. 🙂
No need to worry.
.-= Heather´s last blog ..Daydreams; Responsible for paint-covered Tai Chi practitioners in ninja suits =-.
Heather,
So far 1,0. I have hope that the human race will survive after all.
Haha, we’ll see how it goes
.-= Heather´s last blog ..Daydreams; Responsible for paint-covered Tai Chi practitioners in ninja suits =-.
/applaud!
.-= wrathofnino´s last blog ..Homestruck =-.
Thanks Rich.
This is something that drives me nuts in my reading and my writing. Whenever an author uses the female pronoun it actually makes me pause as I’m reading. Don’t why this happens.
And when I’m writing, it’s sometimes a pain in the ass to phrase something in a way that doesn’t come across as chauvinistic. I’ll often waste a good 5 to 10 minutes rewriting a phrase just to make sure I’m not offending anyone.
Anyway Ralph, liked this post. It’s good see that I’m not the only one that gets annoyed with this.
.-= Steve Scott Site´s last blog ..7 Steps For Breaking Through Your Comfort Zone =-.
More of us need to step up and stop this madness. Thanks for the support.