Any academics? Is this normal now?

[Herja]

I've just started a humanities arts degree. My first submission is in a couple of weeks, yesterday my seminar was based on essay advice.

My course tutor stated that we must not use gendered pronouns, that we should use 'they' rather than 'he/she' in our writing. I queried this and was told "well you never know, you mustn't make assumptions...".

So, is this normal now? If it's not I will either argue this, or just plain ignore it, but it seemes prudent to check if this is just standard practice now .

University of Bristol if you were interested, known for being woke eejits, hence the checking; I'm confident enough in my work ability to take the marks hit by pissing of the tutor...

Your tutor is demented.

There's another thread which is related to this one. If you've not seen it yet, could you do this experiment before looking at it? I'm going to quote a neutrally worded alternative to something which attracted complaint. What is your automatic mental image of the various people described?

Look at that cute little person walking slowly and deliberately with a tiny little dog. The dog looks just like the person actually. And over there, those two runners together, they look really fit, like extremely so, like Olympians. And oh those people I don't know what they're doing it looks like some kind of cross-fit thing but they look very, very, very strong.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3722290-The-most-ridiculous-demand-from-TRAs-I-have-heard-recently

Sounds interesting Errol. I haven’t seen the other thread. As for automatic mental image, I would imagine the dog walker to be female, maybe a child, the runners to be male and maybe the cross fit group to be mixed.

Err and now I have read the other thread. Why the fuck are people so pathetic and why the fuck do we listen to them? You can’t call someone a man unless they give permission? Okay well I and the majority of the population will continue to ignore that advice.

Oh and all these woke feminist academics are CONSTANTLY calling out the creepy men on their timeline and the idea of ‘manels’ at conferences and the struggle of women to be promoted. So how the fuck does that square with not being allowed to call people male or female? The cognitive dissonance needed to hold these views is beyond belief.

Thanks, pota2.and thanks for not revealing how well your impressions matched the original - any other takers?

Lol,
Why is “they” the neutral pronoun of choice? It’s confusing being both singular and plural. I’d one up and use Xe.

“When xe first studied ancient history, xe......

I'm an academic. This is nonsense. First off, work out is it a policy? Is it in the making criteria/examination regulations you have been given (if it is, we as feminists should and can all contest this publicly, but I bet it isn't). If you can't find that information, or if you're sure it isn't a policy, I'd ask to see the tutor privately and politely point out this is not a policy and you won't be abiding by it. Further, you'd like it made clear it is not a policy. If they refuse to make that public, then you can go to the Head of Dept, and just keep going up the management chain if necessary. In talking to the tutor, it might be worth pointing out that this could be seen as disrespectful to those women who fought long and hard to have their scholarship recognised. Also, in every discipline feminist theory has had an impact. And as there are feminists who believe, or believed in the past, that their sex and their experiences arising from this shaped their scholarship, acknowledging their sex matters. So if we're to honour and critically analyse their work then we need to appreciate that. I hope this helps and well done for noting it and not just going along with it. This really matters!

• It's a grammatical headache referring to everyone as "they".

Boris Johnson walked into a bar. The bar was full of people. They felt uncomfortable.

Who am I talking about???*

It's also far from inclusive towards students who struggle a little with their essay writing. English not their first language. Or learning difficulties. It's hard enough writing a well constructed essay with good grammar. If they are then expected to use a non grammatically correct construction it will be a nightmare.

It's becoming normal, I'm sorry to say. A fellow-lecturer once cross-marked a piece of work by a student in my seminar group and chewed her out for 'misgendering' a theorist; one who had an androgynous-sounding name. I would have simply 'silently' corrected the 'he' to 'she' without further comment. I was incensed with said colleague for shaming that student in order to make a point in favour of her woke, pronoun-announcing personal ethics.

The student hadn't committed crimes against humanity, a felony against ideology, or even the grievous offence of thoughtcrime by paying concession to said ideology without actually believing it. She had simply made a basic mistake.

I've spent hours in meetings with colleagues addressing the pedagogical minefield of how we can facilitate such debates in our teaching practice at all. Universities are the one place that should be facilitating freedom of speech, debate, and the truism that any system of thought without room for debate or questioning is dangerous. Yet colleagues are increasingly avoiding this stuff, and with very good reason. Make one misstep and you can imagine what might follow (and I've seen other respected colleagues de-platformed even for raising the most reasonable-sounding questions). Lecturers are risking losing their livelihood (as are sportswomen who don't happen to have already retired) But if we can't address such topics in the arena of Higher Education - a sector which exists to do precisely that - it goes to show the depth of the difficulty the rest of society is up against.

This insidious stuff is filtering its way through, and I regret to say it but I do think it's gradually becoming normalized. Your OP saddens me, but I can't say it exactly surprises me.

I think these points about freedom of speech and academic writing/practice are going to be addressed at the Woman's Place UK meeting in Oxford on 25th October. If you can't come in person you can follow on social media and hopefully someone may ask relevant questions? It'd be good to have this issue publicised to the wide group of women who will be there. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-womans-place-is-at-the-lectern-tickets-75579284675

it might be worth pointing out that this could be seen as disrespectful to those women who fought long and hard to have their scholarship recognised. Also, in every discipline feminist theory has had an impact

This. As a feminist academic it’s been my life’s work to make women’s work visible and give young women the tools of feminist analysis.

Thank you @Awaywiththepiskies...you and me both.