[net.women] salutation/gender reference

pc (05/10/83)

	1. My husband and I use

		Company
		Address
		Hello!

			text

				Sincerely,
				Name
	2. Before our son was born, we used "it" even though we had
	had an ultrasound scan done (which SEEMED to indicate we were
	going to have a daughter!).  That never seemed unnatural to us.
	Being completely unkown, it was more natural to say, "It seems
	to be very active today" than to say "She seems very active
	today."  Of course, it turns out "she" would have been inaccurate.

	3. Over the past 8 years or so, I've changed my style of writing
	and speaking to avoid gender references where they are irrelevant.
	It is now TOTALLY NATURAL for me to speak without reference to
	sex in all but very unusual circumstances.  When I do make a
	gender-specific choice (unconsciously), I can usually find a
	subconscious prejudice lurking about.  There are times when gender
	references are innocuous and times when they are obnoxious.  I 
	find most obnoxious descriptions such as ones about "The office
	of the future" in which all of the "bosses" are "he"s and the
	secretaries are "she"s.  That kind of thing is simply unnecessary.
	es, education and SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE are the best solutions
	to this irksome problem.

						patricia collins
						hplabs