Blame it on the language

I just realised, in wiring the previous blog post, how lacking the English language was of a gender neutral pronoun. If you can't address someone in the third person as a "he" or "she", the next word is an "it". So if you're not male or female, your label is not exclusive to humans.

I think here in lies a problem. If the English language uses pronouns that categorize people along strict gender lines (and the French language extends his to objects as well), and people's imaginations are limited by the language they think in, then are we not, as native English speakers, forced to see and think of the world along lines of gender?

We don't even have a choice.

ta   ,   ta   ,   ta

他  、她  、它

he  ,   she  ,   it 

We are desperately in need of a gender neutral, human specific pronoun. 

You know what, in the original language of the Bible, the references to God are often not masculine. It is just that English is lacking such a pronoun, thus God is referred to as He more often than not. (Although sometimes he is referred to as masculine in the original text, like "God the Father" and "Jesus the son", it is far less common than what we now see in the NIV.) 

Thus they are coming up with a more gender neutral revision. TNIV. ("T" for Today's.)

This is a splendid revision of the NIV in every respect," said Gary Burge, a New Testament professor at Wheaton College (Illinois). "The generic use of man is gone, as are unnecessary masculine pronouns, which the Greek text does not require. [But] God is still called 'Father.' Jesus is still the 'Son.' On the other hand, Paul's frequent address of his readers as 'brothers' now becomes 'brothers and sisters.'"

I feel as if my sociological imagination is hampered by my language.