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Subject:Re: Gender Reference From:BurkBrick -at- AOL -dot- COM Date:Wed, 25 May 1994 15:09:30 EDT
>In writing technical documentation it has been generally taboo to
> use any form of gender reference, such as he or she.
>Alternatives I have seen have ranged from using the third person
>plural to the new form; (s)he.
I use "you" in places where I can't comfortably leave out a reference to a
human. I used to use "the operator" and phrases like it, but I thought it
depersonalized the document. I avoid the (s)he, s/he, and alternating he and
she structures because I find them distracting.