RE: Gender equitable/free/neutral

From: John Meyer (john_meyer@geocities.com)
Date: Wed Jun 30 1999 - 13:55:12 EDT


Hi Gerry Yokota-Murakami, you wrote on 6/29/99 5:54:46 PM:

>Dear Friends,
>
>What would be our best source to clarify the difference between the
>terms gender free, gender neutral, and gender equitable=3F Here in Japan,
>gender free is used to mean gender equitable. I personally prefer the
>word gender equitable because I think it's clearer, but when someone
>says gender free, I have always understood them to mean gender
>equitable. The only place I recall ever hearing the term gender neutral
>is in discussions of grammar, i.e., about ways to refer to all human
>beings other than the masculine pronouns he/his/him.
>
>Does anyone besides myself have the feeling that
>(a) the original poster meant gender equitable when she said gender free
>and
>(b) that is indeed the primary meaning of the term gender free
>

Granted that might be the case, but words have specific meanings, and
gender free and gender equal are two different terms.

john_meyer@geocities.com



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