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Willow Foster, criticizing the wording "If the user is ... then customize
***his*** session.", reports: <<...it's sexist... all documentation was
written that way, using he, or Joe, or such and I was often the only woman
in a class, and man oh man, this tees me off! I realize that I might be more
sensitive than most, but I think it allows a certain mindset.>>
You're not more sensitive than most. I was equivocal about so-called
political correctness early in my career until I started hanging out on
lists populated by writers and editors, the majority of whom were (still
are! <g>) women. A large and vocal majority of those who responded to
questions about whether "he" and "his" should be generic provided anecdotes
about how the usage offended them and sometimes even biased them against
taking up certain careers. As a writer, whether or not you care about
political correctness is not the point; the point is that a large proportion
of your audience does pick up on your word choice and responds to it. Women
make up just over 50% of most general audiences, and if a majority of those
women don't like the generic "he", is it really wise to risk offending more
than 25% of your audience? I think not. Given how easy it is to write
nonsexist text--all it takes is a little practice--it's kinda silly not to
at least try.
<<We talk and talk about knowing our users, but this is a prime example on
how we fail them. All nurses are not woman and all construction folk are not
men.>>
Amen.
--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
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