[Linganth] Is it OK to "neutralize" someone's gender when they haven't asked you to?

[Karen Pennesi]

Hello all,

I am looking for some insights about gender neutral language used in academic reference letters. I wrote this blog post<http://bild-lida.ca/blog/uncategorized/is-it-ok-to-neutralize-someones-gender-when-they-havent-asked-you-to-interpreting-gender-neutral-language-in-reference-letters-by-dr-karen-pennesi/> for the Belonging, Identity, Language, Diversity research group describing the situation. If you have a moment to read it, I'm curious to know what others think of this and also what you do. Do you always use gender neutral language when writing about students or only if they have made that preference clear to you? For me, the big question is this: Is choosing to "neutralize" someone's gender without them indicating their preference the same kind of offence as referring to someone with a gendered pronoun that they don't identify with? It seems to be different in some way, but how and why?

Thanks,
Karen

Dr. Karen Pennesi
Anthropology Department
Social Science Centre
University of Western Ontario
London, ON
Canada
N6A 5C2

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