"He/She/They/Ze"

 Do you agree with Dembroff and Wodak's "Radical Claim"? Explain.


The reading of He/She/They/Ze was very eye opening for myself. While it was very complex, I now have a slightly better understanding for the matter. As for the "Radical Claim" of, "We have a negative duty not to use any gender specific pronouns to refer to anyone, regardless of their gender identity", I feel as though this is the claim I am leaning to agree with. Keep in mind, one of the reasons I took this class is to better understand the role of gender in society in the past, present and future. I feel as though I am so ignorant to this matter because it has never affected me to the degree that it does for some people. However, I want to understand and empathize with why this is important to people. So, for me to have a legitimate stance in this matter I would love to hear and learn from people that are hurt from not only my ignorance, but society's itself. Sure, I can read this article and digest some of the information, but I really want to hear from other people and their own experiences. I also want people to feel comfortable discussing these issues although it may be uncomfortable.

I like the idea of the Radical Claim and especially the idea of "Using a Third Catchall" as an option. I am not sure of others opinions of this idea, but using a single pronoun for everyone seems like a logical idea to myself. The article goes against the claim by stating that it is inegalitarian considering genderqueer individuals. This I can also understand given the examples of Asher and John on page 392. As I ponder these examples more thoroughly and realize the possibility of discrimination, I wonder how the "Radical Claim" can be justified. The article doesn't have a certain stance on the matter, they just provide information for us to interpret (which makes since given this is a philosophy course). As I have gobbled up all of this information, I ponder if there is a true solution to the matter. And as I learn more through the class I hope I can draw upon an opinion more certain, but for now I am left more confused than before I read the article. It's just a matter of understanding the information provided to a greater degree.

Comments

  1. Dr. NoraSeptember 7, 2020 at 6:29 AM

    Hi Brody,

    I appreciate your curiosity and open-mindedness on these issues and your desire to continue to work through them and learn more, even when it may be uncomfortable. That strikes me as a really helpful stance from which to approach this material. I hope you'll read your peers' posts on these topics to learn from them and their experiences as well as do some research on your own as appropriate to learn more about folks who are particularly impacted by these issues.

    I'm not sure why you say that the Dembroff and Wodak article "doesn't have a certain stance on the matter", by which I take it you mean the Radical Claim. It seems to me that their article is a defense of the Radical Claim and that they endorse it. In particular, they defend the "long-term goal of eradicating gender-specific pronouns" at least for English-speakers (403). Do you agree with the reasons and argumentation that Dembroff and Wodak have articulated in support of the Radical Claim?

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  2. Anastasia's BlogSeptember 7, 2020 at 6:26 PM

    Hi Brody!
    I too feel as though this article was eye-opening for me. I felt the part of being “ignorant” since this certain problem didn’t affect you directly to be relatable. This is a common theme for lots of people where they do not get involved in problems unless it somehow negatively impacts them.

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