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>Has anyone tried ping ponging between gender
>references, so that it balances out over the
>course of the document?
Yup, I've written a bunch of stuff this way. It's pretty easy to do,
doesn't take much thought after the first few examples, and it tends to
read smoothly to me. The important thing is, of course, to stay
consistent within examples or sections... you can't change gender
mid-paragraph.
Naturally, you can avoid gender most of the time in technical writing,
but this is for cases where different phrasing is more awkward than
gender-specificity. Don't be so paranoid about political correctness that
you end up with stilted writing just to avoid making a gender decision.
Also, don't obsess over balance too much... I have no idea whether my
books have ended up balanced 50% male/female or not, and I don't really
care. The general attempt will either please or alienate your readership
equally, so your mission is accomplished... ;-)
I've never heard any complaints, in two commercial computer books and
countless works-for-hire, but your mileage may vary.
Hope this helps,
----->Mike
________________________________________________________________
stockman -at- jagunet -dot- com -- AOL and AOL Instant Messenger:MStockman
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