A Perfect Pronoun
The author is Clare Boyd-Macrae , a UCA member . Her blog is worth following and reading regularly . So , just to whet your appetite here are the opening sentences of the article :
“ As I encounter more non-binary people , I find myself becoming comfortable with using the pronoun ‘ they ’ as opposed to ‘ he ’ or ‘ she ’. The more you use it , the less awkward it becomes . Sure , ‘ they ’ is traditionally a plural pronoun . But language changes all the time . And we already use ‘ they ’ when we are unsure of a person ’ s gender .
It ’ s similar to becoming comfortable with abandoning a gendered pronoun when referring to the Divine . In most world religions , God is identified as male . No matter how often anyone says that doesn ’ t actually mean that God is a man , if God is referred to exclusively by the male pronoun ( not to mention the many male titles such as King and Lord ) it conveys clearly that , in essence , God is masculine . This has suited and reinforced patriarchal culture through the ages very well .”
St Margaret ’ s News 10 July 2021