Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/12/84; site mit-hermes.ARPA
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!think!mit-eddie!mit-hermes!jpexg
From: jpexg@mit-hermes.ARPA (John Purbrick)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Re: sexist language/bad attitudes
Message-ID: <2382@mit-hermes.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 1-May-85 12:27:25 EDT
Article-I.D.: mit-herm.2382
Posted: Wed May  1 12:27:25 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 4-May-85 03:52:43 EDT
References: <846@druxo.UUCP> <674@wlcrjs.UUCP> <299@mhuxr.UUCP> <1039@utcsri.UUCP> <250@sbcs.UUCP> <309@h-sc1.UUCP>
Organization: The MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 25

> I postulate the following theory:  The use of the word 'he' as the gender
> neutral pronoun came into use because the male was considered more 'typical'
> of the species, not to mention more important.
> 	marie desjardins


Too true. The "standard" or "default" sex is male, and we tend to assume that
the protagonist in any situation is male, even if it's impossible:

"There was a bee in the living room, but I chased him out."
	"Chased _her_ out. Unless it's a drone, it was a female bee."
[Nevertheless, wouldn't it have sounded strange to be zoologically correct?]

My three-year-old niece was buiding an unlikely structure with her blocks. 
"It's a house for Mr Brown" she said. I said "How about Mrs Brown?" (not 
wanting to confuse the poor kid with "Ms" at so tender an age). 
"No, _Mr_ Brown", she insisted. She already knows who does anything worth 
doing in this world, which isn't surprising if you look at books for small
children. It's not that the characters are all depicted in "sexist" roles,
just that anything that's done, good or bad, is done by males. Sad, sad, sad.

	John Purbrick ...decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!mit-hermes!jpexg