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If you know of a non-pedantic way to write and be gender neutral, I'm interested. Just use "he." No, hear me out. I hope it's fairly obvious that "language is usage is language." Given that, one could very well keep using the plural pronoun as neuter[1], and, if it gains enough popularity, it will be grammatically "correct." An alternative is to continue using the traditional neuter pronoun, which is also the male one. My disruptive proposal is to use it for all situations, especially when the antecedent is obviously female. Don't have separate pronouns for the sexes, and all pronouns become neutral automatically. Another alternative is to use the pronoun "one." It may be awkward, especially with echoes of the passive voice, but, for me at least, it's more comfortable than hijacking a plural pronoun to use in the singular. A final alternative is to use "it," but, besides a potential for being derogatory, it carries a significant risk of injecting confusion about what or who is the antecedent. Disclaimer: I am male. [1] I'm not entirely comfortable with "gender-neutral", since I'm aware, as I'm sure the OP is, that there are non-English languages that have a concept of word gender separate from sex. My first language, Russian, even has a neuter gender, so even that's not entirely satisfying a word. |