gender-neutral "they"

[stelle]

How does CC feel about the gender-neutral "they"? I'm writing a parenting article, and my head is starting to spin with the "he or she"s and "his or her"s. I know that it's grammatically-correct, but it just doesn't seem very online content friendly. I'm considering switching them all to "they", "them" and "their" - which is gaining more and more traction in common usage - but I'd hate to have my article rejected because of it.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
S

[BarryDavidson]

Good question. I use a conversational tone when writing a lot of my articles. I'll tell you from the PC side of the road...

It's okay to use "she" for anything. I'm partial to "he/she" if absolutely needed but newer editors will probably kick it back.

I use "you" most of the time... When shooting the messenger you should always aim for the center of the chest.

[stelle]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I usually use "you". It's just that - since it was a parenting article - it had stuff like:

When your child does X, he or she should Y.

The "he or she"s were tripping me up. Orally, I would say "they", but it just doesn't look right in writing.

I ended up going with "he or she"s and being approved. Still not sure that was the best choice.

Cheers,
s

[Celeste Stewart]

One way to avoid this is use the plural version so it matches "they." For example:
When your children do x, they should Y.

Some find it acceptable to mix the genders up with examples throughout the article. Use she in one example, he in another.