Personal Pronouns, an Opinion

Arlene Blackman Yolles ♦ April 26, 2024 ♦ 4 Comments

I understand and respect the need for pronouns to define some of our new states of gender. It all makes sense to me except in one instance.

For example, it’s perfectly logical for a biologically born male who has transformed into a woman to be referred to as she/her.  Likewise a girl who transforms into a man and usually changes names, sometimes grows a beard, and takes hormones to look more masculine should rightly be addressed as he/him.

What is confusing to me is those who use the pronoun they.  I have no trouble with accepting them as both male and female gender.  After all, gender is fluid; it’s not an either/or situation.  Woody Allen once quipped “Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night.”  My difficulty arises with logical use.  Do they see themselves as one person?  In English, subject and verb must agree.  If so, we should say “They is coming over for dinner.”  Or, if they are two people (in one body) do they need to purchase two tickets to the theater?

Why can’t we come up with an alternate pronoun, totally new to the English language, to convey that in one body lives two people – one male, one female.  Why not?  In the 60’s, Ms. was introduced as a title for a female because feminists thought it unnecessary to distinguish between a married (Mrs.) and an unmarried (Miss) woman.  Pretty groovy!  They even named a magazine after this new designation.  If any reader has a suggestion to replace they, I’d love to hear it!

And, finally, since we’re talking about parts of speech, I’d like to see a little leeway added to adjectives.    In my mind, I feel younger than I am, sometimes act immature and strive to keep my body in good shape.  Therefore, I’d like to be referred to as a young woman, even though I no longer am. Thank you.