[Smt-talk] Last about Gender Terminology in Writings

[Ninov, Dimitar N]

Dear Jennifer,

Thanks for the nice letter and clarifications. I personally apologize to you for having caused such an emotional turmoil in your mind.

The few last things I want to add in relation to gender language, are: 

1) My main point has never been about discrimination versus non discrimination; it has been about aesthetics in the construction of the literary sentence, and the necessary freedom to accommodate fluent language.

2) I find the word "sexist" ugly per se. When it is thrown at someone like condemnation, it already smells like the dark ages of the Spanish Inquisition and predetermines the destiny of the poor fellow - to burn at the stake. I would never use officially terms such as "sexist" or "non sexist", even if I were an editor who provides directions as of how to write correctly. For such purposes I would use "specific gender language" versus "general gender language".

3) I maintain that an author has to have freedom in dealing with literary language. For example, I would accept any of the four versions of the following sentence: A. Poor student, he does not know what to expect. B. Poor student, she does not know what to expect C. Poor student, he or she does not know what to expect. and D. Poor student, they do not know what to expect. For me, D is most objectionable, because it contains conspicuous disagreement between the noun and the pronoun. After that, C has a little glitch because the direction of motion is twisted for an instant by the superfluous repetition of the pronoun. Having said that, I think these considerations shall be left to the discretion of the writer.

4) I believe that, no matter what the official policy of a publisher is, quotations of original passages shall not be edited in terms of gender language, because this would be the end of professionalism and the beginning of self-embarrassment for those who cripple original works in this manner.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

Dimitar


Dr. Dimitar Ninov, Lecturer
School of Music
Texas State University
601 University Drive
San Marcos, Texas 78666