Sides of a brain
Someone wrote…
Every time I read something where the gender binary is specified, an internal argument happens between the gender nonconforming side of my brain and the grammatically correct side of my brain.
“The Department Head will launch his/her Departmental Surveys next Monday at 9:00 a,m.” is grammatically correct, but I want it to read “The Department Head will launch their Departmental Surveys next Monday at 9:00 a.m.” to be inclusive of all genders.
What’s your experience?
Posted by Freiya on December 23rd, 2014 at 08:00 am
Category: your voice 2 comments »
December 23rd, 2014 at 11:22 am |
By the time I got over binary gender, I had no cares left to spare for grammatical correctness. Singular they/them/their forever!
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December 23rd, 2014 at 1:10 pm |
Non-binary writer/editor here: singular ‘they’ IS grammatically correct, or at least is on the way to becoming so in Australian English, and it has precedence in how we treat singular ‘you’. I wrote an essay about it, with references to the Style manual, here. So there’s nothing wrong, grammatically, with using inclusive words!
As far as I’m concerned, anyone who says ‘they’ in the singular isn’t correct is ignorant of how grammar actually works and evolves. There’s nothing incorrect about my words, thanks, so the world needs to stop using correctness as an excuse to deny me inclusion.
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