Bitch and Gender-Neutral Pronouns

Its taken me awhile, but i'm finally submitting my first post! To tell you the truth I really didn't know what I wanted to write on. I was waiting for something to inspire me and today I finally found something! For the past year or so i've been very interested in the Women's Movement. Taking my first Rhetoric course my sophomore year I had the same idea about the Women's Movement as most people did and when asked if I thought I was a feminist of course I said no! Whenever I heard the word feminist I thought of radical, bra burning, stick it to the man lesbians. It sounds harsh, but it's true. And back then (I say it like it was so long ago) I wouldn't believe you if you told me i'd have a subscription to a magazine called Bitch: Feminist response to pop culture.

I've only had a subscription to Bitch for about a year now and today I got my 4th issue. I was at work when I opened it and of course I got the same response from people that I normally do, "Is that magazine called Bitch?" Then when I tell them yes they proceed to give me weird looks and call me a crazy feminist. In todays issue I read an article that I thought was pretty interesting called "Zie, hirself, & per." I found this article interesting because it addressed the power of language in creating meaning. More specifically it discussed gender-neutral pronouns in the English language. We experience the power of language everyday. Just today I sent an email and spent 5 minutes trying to figure out if I should address it Ms., Miss., or Mrs. Why should it matter? And why does it matter? One of the main reasons Gender-Neutral Pronouns (GNPS) are being addressed is because many people feel the need for a singular pronoun that can refer to any sex. Many authors including Colette Phair, the author of this article, have written novels only using GNPS such as "zie," "zir," "zirs," and "zirself."

Since I just got the magazine today i've really only skimmed through the article, but I plan on looking into this topic a lot more. It really makes you think about the power of language and the possibilities. I'd be interested to see what people thought about the issue of GNPS. Is it possible to completely get rid of pronouns like "he" and "she" and replace them with GNPS? And will this be a positive step for the women's movement?

Sorry this post is so vague, but i'm headin off to yet another meeting. I'm post more on the women's movement and perhaps this topic specifically when I get home. For now, check out their website if you want!

www.bitchmagazine.org

MegO