When she became he and then became they

There are 8 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 1,537 times. The latest Post () was by Rice.

1st Official Post
    • Official Post

    The actress formerly known as Ellen Page (Juno, X-Men, Umbrella Academy) has just announced that she/he/they is/are transgender and from now on will be known as Elliot Page.

    Apparently this is big news in the LBGTQ community and the BBC, which could never be accused of being non-PC, reported on the story by referring to Page as he and using the male third person pronoun in its report.

    Quote


    "I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer," he wrote on Twitter.

    On the other hand, CNN reported that Page is now non-binary (neither man nor woman) and would use the terms 'he' or 'they' and continued the report in the non-binary pronoun.

    I think I know the difference between sex and gender, the latter clearly being easier to manipulate, but I must admit to being confused.

    I was always under the impression that non-binary was just that - neither male nor female - with the appropriate gender-free pronouns being used. However on this occasion, we are being asked to refer to Page as 'he' or 'they', so which is it?

    By the way, Page is married to a woman, is a lesbian and therefore by default is a woman, which is why many are confused over her gender crisis.

    • Official Post
    Quote from serafina

    On La Nación they said she wants to be addressed as él (male) o elle (new 'neutral') and when quoting her, they used the male:

    "The pronouns I would now like used are 'he' or 'they' and my preferred name is now Elliot.

    And how fortunate I am to be able write such profound bullshit, to be here and to have arrived at such a momentous moment in MY life."

    I personally think they are surely having a laugh at people who'll believe anything they say, it's unfortunate that some actually take her.....oops, sorry, him...........sorry, them at their words.


    Normally people who describe themselves as plurals, are normally called schizophrenic, but hey, I'm not the expert in that field

    I’d like to say this right here:

    I would like to be referred to as Rice. Or Her Majesty. Or she. And singular.

    No exceptions, please.


    I feel so fortunate to be here and to have arrived at such a profoundly momentous time in MY life.

    • Official Post

    An online acquaintance of mine is making a career as an inclusive writer. She gets hired to make the copy of a websites inclusive. Apparently, companies are starting to value this service because nobody wants to be labelled as sexist or discriminatory and get infamously known worldwide for being in the center of an online protest.


    This may be a career specific for Romance languages, where everything has a gender. To make some examples in Spanish, she would change stuff like los estudiantes > las personas que estudian and makes sure that your website doesn't contain anything that could be perceived as offensive by a minority.


    She is also working with a Publisher which only publishes books using inclusive language, and they have picked a character that looks like a reversed e called schwa as a gender neutral desinence for words that traditionally have a gender, just like here they have picked 'e'.


    Ragazzə instead of ragazzi (=boys) when used in reference to a group of assorted genders.


    I don't know how it should be pronounced...I had to look up and it is described as \ə\ in the international alphabet.



    This native English speaker is explaining it here:


    I first encountered schwa when studying German, but it is important also in English, in the same capacity as In German, simply an unstressed vowel. If you look at pronunciations in an English dictionary, you will see the upside down e, symbol of the schwa.