ext_87661 ([identity profile] jilesa.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] docwebster 2002-12-16 06:27 am (UTC)

GNPs

If you don't mind my asking, is there anything that you would consider to be a viable alternative for addressing or referring to those who don't fit neatly into one or the other binary gender?

(I'm sorry, the rest of this turned into a bit of a tangential ramble, but I'm going to leave it here by way of explanation for why I asked the question.) For example, 'she' is an accurate description of my physical sex characteristics, but there are times when it really chafes to have that pronoun used in reference to me, because being 'she' carries a whole lot of social implications that just Don't Fit who I am. I don't usually make much noise about it because it's fairly rare for me to feel that way, but I can *definitely* understand why those who don't fit into traditional gender stereotypes-- or whose physical sex characteristics don't match their gender-- might want some alternative, and it seems only courteous to do what I can to respect those differences, if that makes sense. Then again, I have no objection to gender neutral pronouns, and use them regularly when I don't know the gender of a person to whom I'm referring, or when the gender of the person to whom I'm referring is really irrelevant, because it seems more precise and accurate than assigning a gender at random.

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