Questions tagged [gender]
For questions about using gendered words or phrases in English.
61
questions
-1
votes
3answers
121 views
Why do children in England call a female teacher "Sir"? [closed]
I'm a female teacher assistant and I found very weird that English children (from England) call me "Sir," I would be more comfortable if they called me "Madam," as adults do when ...
10
votes
6answers
3k views
When referring to a gender-neutral entity in a paper such as an "agent", what pronouns and conjugation style should I use nowadays?
I'm writing a theoretical (control theory) paper. I'm not a native English speaker and I need guidance about the following. Often, the subject of my sentences is "an agent", or "...
16
votes
3answers
3k views
When the Gentle Giant song "Black Cat" refers to a cat as "she", does that mean the cat is female?
In Gentle Giant's song Black Cat it starts as follows:
There's a cat prowling through the streets at night
And she's black and her eyes are burning yellow
My question is: although said cat is ...
1
vote
0answers
30 views
Them after she and her
I’ve come across the following sentence:
To encourage empathy in your child, encourage your child to talk about her feelings and make sure she knows that you care about them. (Source)
Why is them used ...
1
vote
2answers
194 views
Is emasculated a sexist word?
The dictionary definition of emasculated is "(of a man) deprived of his male role or identity." or "made weaker or less effective"
So, I'm a guy, and I'm not entirely sure what it ...
1
vote
2answers
56 views
Referring to female college age students while writing a novel
I am trying to write a novel. I want to write in a manner that will be respectful toward gender.
I have not yet figured out how to refer to female college-age characters quickly and smoothly without ...
0
votes
1answer
94 views
Gender of Bosom - Is it neutral?
Is "bosom" a gender-neutral word? Can we use it to describe the chest/breast of a man?
Eg: She embraced his bosom with passion.
19
votes
2answers
3k views
Why sister [nouns] and not brother [nouns]?
I have noticed this quite often that other (closely) related common nouns are called sister [common noun]. For example:
This question is off-topic here, but is on-topic on our sister site.
This issue ...
0
votes
1answer
94 views
Is a reader feminine like the moon or ship?
Is a reader feminine like the moon or a ship? Here I present a few examples from an academic lecture on how to write a good scientific paper. The audience are aspiring authors of future scientific ...
0
votes
1answer
108 views
Are there any differences in the ways of speaking English by men and women? Any typical examples?
In Japan, my home country, men and women speak slightly differently in terms of word choice and how to end a sentence, to give you just a few examples. This is especially true in informal situations. ...
1
vote
1answer
62 views
Which one is more acceptable? [duplicate]
Which one is more acceptable?
1. Each boy and each girl has done his duty.
2. Each boy and each girl has done his or her duty.
3. Each boy and each girl has done their duty.
Edit: Here ...
4
votes
2answers
783 views
Is using gender-specific language when talking about inanimate things can be wrong in any sense?
Talking about a game called Starfinder and comparing it to an older game by the same publisher called Pathfinder, I used words "older brother" implying the latter:
Starfinder also reduces the list ...
23
votes
7answers
9k views
Can "he" and "man" refer to all genders?
All men must die, but death can vary in its significance. The ancient Chinese writer Sima Qian said, "Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a ...
-1
votes
2answers
116 views
Kimono Master or Mistress for a lady?
Suppose there is a lady who is a skilled practitioner of Kimono (着物), which is a Japanese traditional costume. Which expression (or title) for her is better (appropriate), Kimono Master or Kimono ...
1
vote
1answer
348 views
Is Bob gender neutral?
Recently a question on Stack Overflow meta was edited by a moderator to remove the name Nancy with a gender neutral name Bob. His exact words were(emphasis mine)
Jon suggested Bob would work too. I ...
0
votes
2answers
628 views
Why a truck or a plane is "she"?
In trucker forums, I can see drivers referring to their trucks by pronoun “she”. Similarly a site about an older airplane writes about “restoring her”.
I would expect using “it” for all things (...
0
votes
3answers
360 views
Using "her" to refer to the word "child"
I have confusions about a single sentence
The pedagogical view is that the pre-school phase is crucial to stimulate a child’s curiosity and help her prepare for schooling at age six.
Can her be ...
4
votes
1answer
810 views
Can "Am I the bad guy here?" be said by a girl?
In an interactive story (that's why it is impossible to quote the text), the main character said to herself:
Am I the bad guy here?
when she was questioning a bad action, which has been done by a ...
2
votes
1answer
105 views
Use of "she" for a general person in a scientifical paper
In this scientific paper published in 2007, the authors wrote (page 684):
Note: you don't have to understand the technical part of the following paragraph to understand my question.
The set of ...
0
votes
2answers
367 views
Personal pronoun (when the sex is unspecified) [duplicate]
Trade allows each person to specialize in the activities she does
best.
Why exactly she (and not he)? Don't we use they in such cases (unspecified sex)?
1
vote
3answers
107 views
How we use 'child and parent vs parents'? [closed]
Which one is correct?
The small child does whatever his father does.
The small child does whatever its father does.
The small child does whatever its parent does.
The small child does ...
24
votes
4answers
14k views
The meaning of "half woman, half girl"
"It was the same mirror I'd gazed into as a child, then as a girl, then as a youth, half woman, half girl."
Educated by Tara Westover
What does "half woman" mean? (For example: A ...
27
votes
9answers
6k views
How to deal with unknown genders in English?
When I start a sentence with words like "someone" or "somebody", I don't know how to choose the right pronoun at the end of the sentence.
Examples:
If anybody asks you about the money, tell (Him - ...
4
votes
2answers
2k views
What is the gender of newspaper? What is the grammar behind the term "sister newspapers"?
Recently while I was searching for the information of one of my favourite newspaper I came across an interesting thing about the gender of newspapers. For every newspaper that was owned by a single ...
0
votes
2answers
1k views
Why do they use "her" for Titanic?
I was reading the Wikipedia's page on RMS Titanic and just noticed numerous references to the ship by possessive her.
Why don't they simply use "its" for Titanic?
1
vote
2answers
754 views
Which adjective to use for a personification of living being (her/his or its)?
Which adjective to use for a personification of living being (her/his or its)?
Nature offers its/her lap to one who seeks it.
Death completes its/his course, no one can stop it/him.
I was ...
0
votes
1answer
3k views
Can I use "She" and "her" for an animal? [duplicate]
Can I use "She" or "her" for an animal?
For example, Suppose I have a dog that is of the female gender.
How do I refer to it? "It" or "She"?
Also when I am talking with someone about an animal (for ...
0
votes
1answer
2k views
Everyone, he/she/it?
Is there a possibility to form the following sentence "gender-independent" in English?
Everybody sees, what he/she wants to see.
What can I use instead of he/she? Additionally: How can I give this ...
1
vote
1answer
165 views
The usage of "she" and "her" in neutral cases
I am reading an article now and facing some strange usage of pronouns:
An agent’s probabilities are defined by her willingness to place or accept any bets she believes to be favorable to her on the ...
1
vote
0answers
717 views
What use when I don't know the gender of a person? [duplicate]
When I don't know if a person is male or female, what word shall I use? I don't know but in spanish we use the male form: he.
PD: I know that I could say He/She but I don't want.
1
vote
1answer
34 views
If I refer to 'the being' (a noun), do I have to use 'he' or 'she', or 'it'?
If I refer to 'the being' (as a noun) do I have to use he / she / it, or something else?
To add to my confusion: I am talking about a painting, where 'the being' is a woman. So the body has the shape ...
9
votes
3answers
637 views
Is "singular they" widely used?
I often use singular they to keep my sentences gender neutral. Many of my friends (none of them are native speakers), however, consider this to be grammatically incorrect, and suggest me not to use it ...
2
votes
1answer
211 views
How do I translate this sentence and keep the translation free of any reference to the person's gender? [duplicate]
In Italian, I can use the following sentence without revealing the gender of the person I am talking of.
L'utente preferisce mantenere protetta la propria identità. (The user prefers to keep [...
26
votes
4answers
11k views
The female equivalent of "don't break my balls"
We all know that someone who can never be quiet, who criticizes, moans and nags until your patience wears thin and snaps.
Some men will intimidate the nagger by saying:
Stop breaking my balls!
I ...
0
votes
1answer
845 views
Is there a feminine equivalent for the word "houseman"?
There are lots of words ending with the masculine suffix -man. So far, I haven't had any trouble with their feminine equivalents (most of them can be easily found in dictionaries).
Now I am having a ...
0
votes
1answer
2k views
Can we use "him" for an animal in this sentence?
Can we use "him" for an animal for the passive form? Please check my below sentence and kindly let me know if I used "him" at the end of the sentence.
"When deer saw the lion running at him, he ...
9
votes
2answers
2k views
I'm confused with the use of 'herself''
The customer can serve herself, and then pay for the goods with the minimum of delay.
In the sentence, the customer can be a male or female. But the pronoun 'herself' has been used. I'm confused with ...
2
votes
1answer
233 views
Feminine pronouns for countries
Context:
Just days after the fall of Paris, General Charles de Gaulle, In one of the most important speeches in French history, told his fellow countrymen:
'Believe me...nothing is lost for France....
4
votes
1answer
992 views
"sister-site": noun gender
After spending some time on the English SE, I noticed that everytime someone referred to ELL, they always did so by saying "our sister-site ELL".
As I understand, there is no grammatical gender in ...
5
votes
2answers
185 views
Getting he/she intuitively right if native language has only gender-neutral pronouns
At times I can speak English fluently enough. The biggest issue bothering me is that when not carefully speaking, I mix 'he' and 'she' pronouns randomly. Example: "Jane's not here today. He's on a ...
1
vote
1answer
3k views
What is the possessive pronoun for a person whose gender we don't know? [duplicate]
If I speak about a neutral sex person, what can I say to exprime a possession ?
Example: The student will use his or her pen to write.
Is it better to write every time his or her or is there a ...
54
votes
11answers
9k views
Use "him" or "her" in this sentence about a hypothetical gender switch?
What should I use in this sentence?
If he were a girl, I would have kissed him/her.
Should I refer to the real gender of the person or the one I'm assuming the person to be and why?
Edit : Recent ...
1
vote
2answers
9k views
Are feminine nouns ending with -ess the only proper option for females?
When we have a specifically feminine version of a noun which ends with the -ess suffix, like in huntress, sorceress, anchoress, etc. Is it always wrong to use, like, hunter for a female hunter too or ...
29
votes
9answers
9k views
Does the English language have a grammatical gender?
If we are talking about animate objects, like people and animals, defining a gender is easy in most cases.
But for inanimate objects, like a chair, a tree, the sky and so on, gender can be a built-in ...
34
votes
6answers
47k views
Grammatical gender of the word "child"
I've been taught that a child is gender-neutral noun. But in the textbook on linguistics I've been reading, the noun is used as feminine. For example, a sentence in the book goes like this:
The ...
1
vote
2answers
285 views
It or Him when talking about Regime
I heard in the media:
Russia was behind the Syrian regime since day one: arming him,...
I am confused if I should refer to regime as it or him or her.
What about other words like machine, ...
4
votes
1answer
127 views
Why do ESL speakers sometimes use "sir" to women?
When I use a website with a large numbers of users for whom English is not their first language (specifically, fiverr.com), I often get addressed as "Sir", even though I am a woman. How come?
My ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
Can I refer to an ant as "she"?
In a long text about a foraging ant, would it be correct to refer to the ant always as "she" instead of "it"? For example,
She wanders aimlessly until she finds a pheromone trail.
A foraging ant ...
15
votes
5answers
4k views
'Manhunt for three gunmen' vs 'womanhunt for three gunwomen'
Some time ago, Paris police launched a manhunt for three gunmen.
But, what if there are three women who carry guns, shoot and escape, is it still appropriate to say "manhunt for three gunmen"? Will ...
29
votes
7answers
32k views
A "user" is "it" or "he/she"?
I'm not sure what is right and what not. I've searched on Google and could not find an answer to this. How should I write this:
I'm speaking about a user. It is the main problem.
The question is. ...
