Editing Gender neutrality in English (section)

===Pronouns===
{{See also|Gender neutrality in languages with gendered third-person pronouns#Gender-neutral pronouns in modern standard English}}
 
Another target of frequent criticism by proponents of gender-neutral language is the use of the masculine [[English personal pronouns|pronoun]] ''he'' (and its derived forms ''him'', ''his'' and ''himself'') to refer to antecedents of [[Grammatical gender#Contextual determination of gender|indeterminate gender]]. Although this usage is traditional, some critics argue that it was invented and propagated by males, whose explicit goal was the linguistic representation of male superiority.<ref>{{harvp|Spender|1980|pp=147}}. Among writers defending the usage of generic ''he'', the author cites a Thomas Wilson, writing in 1553, and grammarian Joshua Poole (1646).</ref> The use of the generic ''he'' was approved in an Act of Parliament, the [[Interpretation Act 1850]] (the provision continues in the [[Interpretation Act 1978]], although this states equally that the feminine includes the masculine). On the other hand, in 1879 the word "he" in by-laws was used to block admission of women to the Massachusetts Medical Society.<ref name="UPenn">{{Cite web |author=Carolyn Jacobsen |title=Some Notes on Gender-Neutral Language |work=english.upenn.edu |url=http://www.english.upenn.edu/~cjacobso/gender.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702092056/http://www.english.upenn.edu/~cjacobso/gender.html |archive-date=2 July 2010 |access-date=16 July 2016 }}</ref>

Proposed alternatives to the generic ''he'' include ''he or she'' (or ''she or he''), ''s/he'', or the use of [[singular they|singular ''they'']]. Each of these alternatives has met with objections. The use of ''he or she'' has been criticized for reinforcing the [[gender binary]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Chak |first1=Avinash |title=Beyond 'he' and 'she': The rise of non-binary pronouns |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34901704 |website=BBC News |access-date=11 May 2021 |date=7 December 2015}}</ref> Some<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/pronoun.asp | title=Pronouns &#124; Pronoun Examples and Rules }}</ref> see the use of singular ''they'' to be a grammatical error, but according to most references, ''they'', ''their'' and ''them'' have long been grammatically acceptable as gender-neutral singular pronouns in English, having been used in the singular continuously since the [[Middle Ages]], including by a number of prominent authors, such as [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], [[William Shakespeare]], and [[Jane Austen]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Churchyard |first=Henry |title=Jane Austen and other famous authors violate what everyone learned in their English class |url=http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html | access-date=14 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430053036/http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html |archive-date=2009-04-30}}</ref> Linguist [[Steven Pinker]] goes further and argues that traditional grammar proscriptions regarding the use of singular "they" are themselves incorrect:

{{blockquote|The logical point that you, [[Holden Caulfield]], and everyone but the language mavens intuitively grasp is that ''everyone'' and ''they'' are not an "antecedent" and a "pronoun" referring to the same person in the world, which would force them to agree in number. They are a "quantifier" and a "bound variable", a different logical relationship. Everyone returned to their seats means "For all X, X returned to X's seat." The "X" does not refer to any particular person or group of people; it is simply a placeholder that keeps track of the roles that players play across different relationships. In this case, the X that comes back to a seat is the same X that owns the seat that X comes back to. The ''their'' there does not, in fact, have plural number, because it refers neither to one thing nor to many things; it does not refer at all.<ref>{{harvp|Pinker |2000}}</ref>}}

Some [[style guide]]s (e.g. [[APA style|APA]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=APA Styleguide |url=https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/grammar/singular-they}}</ref>) accept singular ''they'' as grammatically correct,<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Cambridge Guide to English Usage |last=Peters |first=Pam |year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-62181-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeguideto00pete_0 }}</ref> while others {{which|date=April 2020}} reject it. Some, such as ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', hold a neutral position on the issue, and contend that any approach used is likely to displease some readers.<ref name="Press2003">{{Cite book|author=University of Chicago. Press|title=The Chicago Manual of Style|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBMlLYwqmjYC|year=2003|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-10403-4|page=233}}</ref>

Research has found that the use of masculine pronouns in a generic sense creates "male bias" by evoking a disproportionate number of male images and excluding thoughts of women in non-sex specific instances.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Megan M. |first2=Lorie E. |last2=James |year=2009 |jstor=27784423 |title=Is the generic pronoun he still comprehended as excluding women? |journal=The American Journal of Psychology |volume=122 |issue=4 |pages=483–96 |doi=10.2307/27784423 |pmid=20066927|s2cid=44644673 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1007/BF00288993 |title=Using masculine generics: Does generic he increase male bias in the user's imagery? |year=1988 |last1=Hamilton |first1=Mykol C. |journal=Sex Roles |volume=19 |issue=11–12 |pages=785–99|s2cid=144493073 }}</ref> Moreover, a study by John Gastil found that while ''they'' functions as a generic pronoun for both males and females, males may comprehend ''he/she'' in a manner similar to ''he''.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1007/BF00289252 |title=Generic pronouns and sexist language: The oxymoronic character of masculine generics |year=1990 |last1=Gastil |first1=John |journal=Sex Roles |volume=23 |issue=11–12 |pages=629–43|s2cid=33772213 }}</ref>