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12/12/2015

Topic Reading-Vol.1340-12/12/2015

Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Beyond 'he' and 'she': The rise of non-binary pronouns
Max is my classmate. They is smart but never brags about themself. I like them but I don’t like their hairstyle. Theirs looks too progressive to me.
What do you think of the above sentences? Grammatically confused? Pronouns like “they,” “their,” “them,” and “themself” can be used for people whose gender identity differs from the one they were born with.
Such non-binary pronouns have been offered for students in some of the universities in the U.S. for those who identify as neither gender, or both. In fact, of the 10,000 students registered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, a little higher than 1% of them chose pronouns other than "she" or "he".
If you have problem using they for a person or themself, there are “zie,” “zim,”“zir,” and “zirs” as alternatives.
Then, what about surname? For those who don’t want to specify their gender could be called “Mx.”
And such non-binary pronouns are already recognized by prominent language reference sites such as;
How to deal and live with growing diversity seem to be a new challenge to historical traditions and common practices.
Enjoy reading and thinking how things are changing these days.

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