Butchering English to Stay PC
When I was in the 10th grade only a decade ago, my English teacher made it perfectly clear: in English, the generic singular pronoun is masculine. If someone wants to object to this convention, he should take it up with the Saxons. This is not difficult and following this rule merely places us in a long line of English-speaking people. But now that I’m in law school, I’m noticing an apparently concerted effort to change this convention. What I don’t see is a good reason for doing so.
The issue has been discussed in many fora, including this representative article. The use of the masculine pronoun is now viewed by our culture as inherently sexist. The alternatives range from illogical to utterly bizarre:”she,” “(s)he,” “he/she,” and, “they” are some common examples, the latter of which amounts to a decision to replace the singular pronoun altogether with the plural. Some of the more creative approaches involve alternating “he” and “she” every time a generic pronoun is required.
The solution to this imaginary problem which legal writers have apparently adopted is the blanket use of the feminine. Therefore, whenever examples are given in law school (and there are lots of examples), all the criminals, tortfeasors, parties, judges, attorneys, witnesses, and victims are women.
Since English has no separate generic pronoun, we obviously have to use something. The compound pronouns (he/she) are unwieldy and the plural pronoun (they) is just simply wrong: Any student interested in the optional seminar should bring their enrollment form to class. That is (and should remain) a wrong answer on the SAT.
So then what’s the answer? It is suggested that using the masculine is sexist. If this is true, using the feminine is no less sexist. Since we are resolved that our only options are sexism or the devolution of the English language, let us err on the side of sexism. Furthermore, though the number of women in the legal profession is increasing, men still constitute the vast majority of American judges, lawyers, and criminals. So if we are going to be sexist anyway, let us do so in a way that is not only supported by over a millennia of tradition, but is also likely to be accurate four times out of five.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Is this harmless transition in language so irksome? Does a pronoun shift alter a theme’s underlying meaning? Or is there perhaps something else at play here? Historically, women have been assigned a more passive role in relation to their male counterparts. With the onset of the industrial revolution, as women were pulled from their homes into the outside world, the male community at large was anxious to perpetuate its monopoly on dominance in a rapidly developing society. It became important to remind women, as they sought vocational flexibilty, of their place in the world. Anchored in medieval rhetoric, driven in both the church and schools, women were confronted by an increasing wave of male aggresiveness.
The psychology behind this is evident. Euphemistically, male aggression allows a community to accept an unnecessary divide fueled by some tainted romanticism/chivalry. Aggression evidences fear and fear alone. That which we do not understand consumes us. Through repressive technique and unchecked violence these fears find rationale.
Consider a rarely espoused, largely because of the discomfort it projects, justification for the particular crulety of American slavery. Threatened by the influx of African males, white males were quick to the whip because of an unqualified jealousy. Frankly, white males were scared to death that the slaves might sleep with “their women.” It is fear that binds us.
In that light, is it necessary to highlight a fear of language? If a law casebook employs the feminine is it conceptually flawed? If I say she and you say he are we in disagreement? Language is ever evolving, it must not exist in a vacuum. Tabling the feminine while the masculine continues it anachronisitc reign might sideline Sophia’s wisdom.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:15 am
huffington has nothing on spore.
-devoted fan