13. Beyond the "He/Man" Approach: The Case for Nonsexist Language

As a writer and an English major, language is the medium I choose to express and identify myself. In essay writing I have learned to use "one" when referring to the reader i.e., "one would assume when reading this..." instead of a gender specific term. What I find just completely silly is the opposition to changing the apparent sexism in language, even in our civilized society. Isn't it obvious that by bombarding children with only one gendered option to identify with in literature or school curriculum, specifically "he/man," that this creates an exclusion of female identification? I don't know, maybe I'm one of those man-hating feminists who believes in equality only for women, that men should suffer the consequences of their world dominated oppression, or maybe I am a peace-loving-equality-for-all-people-lover who has hope for the whole world. Or, maybe I'm a little bit of both.