Referring to everybody with gender neutral terms

Only if I want to avoid identifying someone or if they wish to be referred to by gender-neutral pronouns.

I don't really see much point in avoiding someone's preferred if you have them specifically in mind.

I do use the singular "they" quite a lot; it seems rather silly to use the masculine for an unspecified gender, no matter what the extreme grammatical purists (who have basically made up their own rules) say.

 

Yeah l also just use "they" if l can't immediately determine a pronoun to use, or if referring to a hypothetical person. More concise than "he or she", also isn't so limited to the binary.

 

I only use 'they' if I don't know someone's gender, don't want to specify, or they prefer gender neutral terms.

Yeah, I totally agree with this. It annoys me when people say 'he' when not specifiying a gender.

 

It doesn't bother me when people use a generic "he" (but what do I know, I'm a guy). Of course, that'd just be mostly for signs and such, because I would address a mixed-gender group of people as they

I wouldn't offended, but it would be weird if someone right in front of me said (for example) "but they don't know!" about me specifically, especially because of the plural meaning of "they".

 

^ This.

I will always respect peoples' wishes about what pronouns they would like to be called by, but using "they" constantly in conversation when talking about every single person is tiring and frustrating. If someone I initially thought was a female tells me to call them "he" or "they" then I will, but in the beginning I just go but what I see.

 

Actually most writing nowadays tries to be politically correct and uses "she" for an unspecified gender. Even my physics textbook does this... It's pretty absurd to me that they replace "he" with "she" as if it makes it any less sexist or whatever their intent is. Every time some piece of writing refers to a random person, they refer to them with the pronoun "she." My friend (who is getting his phD in -some English related field-) also advised me that "she" is now the correct pronoun to use when the gender is ambiguous. I like "they" but it seems too plural. Sometimes I'll use "one" if it's appropriate... Otherwise feel bad favoring any specific gender.

But to get to the topic, no I dont do that. I refer to people with pronouns of their assumed gender. If they have a problem with it I will try to respect what they want to be called. I don't see the point.

 

I try to use a person's preferred pronouns unless a gender is not specified. But when I refer to a future partner, I always use gender neutral pronouns.

 

I think there needs to be an option that's less weird than the singular "they", which can be confusing because it's mainly a plural word, or "he", which can be confusing because it's male.

 

I only use 'they' when I don't know someone's gender or when the gender of a person is not important ("I went to the doctor today and they said...") I never use he or she and it bothers me when they consistently use either he or she in books.

 

When I'm being conscious of it, and not talking about someone whose specific pronouns I know, I use 'they'. I'm much more aware of it when people are talking about me, which I should probably work on. :/

 

No thanks. There's already a term for that--"it" (or one), and I don't humans should be referred to that way.

 

I refer to everyone as person or people

 

I love the fact that here in Finland we don't have the whole he/she thing because everyone is referred to as hän, which is gender neutral. So honestly this whole he/she/his/hers thing confuses me and I'm always scared that I'll offend someone when I'm speaking in english and if I use the wrong term or something, which is why I always try to use gender neutral terms but idk it's hard and confusing

 

Tbh I find not using he/she very confusing.

 

I use the gender terms unless I don't know the gender.

 

In Japanese we technically have gender-specific pronouns, but they're rarely used unless a person's gender is very important in the situation. Sometimes I wish English were like that; having and using gendered pronouns can be kinda confusing from time to time...

 

^Was gonna mention that.
But of course in Japanese, there is the problem of the word you use to refer to yourself. "Watashi" is gender-neutral, but these days more often associated with women, so more likely to get you misgendered. "Ore" and "boku" are male; "atashi" is female.

I use "ore" normally, and "watashi" when crossdressing/in onnagata

 

Ah, yeah; there's that too.

I usually use watashi.

 

Nope, I use he/she and will alter if corrected. If I was really unsure and they had a gender non-specific name I would wait till I heard how acquaintances were addressing them and monitoring for a good reaction.

The fact is the vast majority of people aren't trans or genderqueer so in say 95% of cases you are just going to be unnecessarily confusing or even upsetting people* by saying gender neutral terms. Whilst well intentioned its a bit like denying their gender.

To be honest I'd be pretty irked if someone avoided using terms relating to my gender. I'm a man, use he and him please.

*You need to be careful here. Most men do not like having their masculinity brought into question, and likewise most women their femininity. By using gender-neutral terms there is a chance people will think you are questioning them, like unintentionally you may have people thinking you are implying "but are you really a woman?". It can be an accidental insult.