Confused about your gender? Worry no more because Facebook is now requiring you to select a gender according to the Los Angeles Times. Facebook previously used the word “themself” in newsfeed stories but unfortunately themself is not really a word. As a result Facebook will be prompting users to specify whether or not they prefer to be referred to as “he” or “she”. To all my fellow hermaphrodites, it’s now time to make a decision about what gender you affiliate yourself with.
According to Naomi Gleit of Facebook, “We’ve received pushback in the past from groups that find the male-female distinction too limiting.” As such, Naomi stated “We have a lot of respect for these communities, which is why it will still be possible to remove gender entirely from your account, including how we refer to you in mini-feed.” The problem surrounds the lack of a gender specification when creating statements in newsfeeds in other languages.
For those that speak a foreign language, you probably know how important gender is in language. While Facebook will be requesting all users to specify how they would prefer themselves to be presented (as he or she), there will be no requirement for specifying a gender. How will Facebook cope with those that don’t specify “he” or “she”? I’m not sure how Facebook plans on handling people that don’t respond but in foreign languages there is a good chance that news stories just don’t display due to a lack of gender.
Do you consider this gender discrimination or do you think that this is strictly a result of language barriers?
I accept this as truth, since nobody would make up something so silly and controlling. The real truth is, these folks are serious. Wow.
Comment by JB — June 28, 2008 @ 9:51 am
I accept this as truth, since nobody would make up something so silly and controlling. The real truth is, these folks are serious. Wow.
Comment by JB — June 28, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
In English, 'he', 'him', 'his', 'himself', etc. are both the male and the neuter forms. Just like our second person singular and plurals have collapsed into 'you', 'your', etc., and nobody is bemoaning the lack of 'ye', 'cept our cuz' down south. (Y'all's know who you are) Education is the solution to this problem, not victimology.
Comment by Bill McGonigle — June 29, 2008 @ 10:23 am
In English, ‘he’, ‘him’, ‘his’, ‘himself’, etc. are both the male and the neuter forms. Just like our second person singular and plurals have collapsed into ‘you’, ‘your’, etc., and nobody is bemoaning the lack of ‘ye’, ‘cept our cuz’ down south. (Y’all’s know who you are) Education is the solution to this problem, not victimology.
Comment by Bill McGonigle — June 29, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
"Unfortunately themself is not really a word": Maybe I'd say that when playing Scrabble (and you spelled during a triple-word score play) to stick it to my opponent. But uh, really, what's the problem? I find it interesting that slang is all over the place and people are fine with it, but people feel the need to invoke the "dictionary-correct English" around this issue specifically. I don't think "themselves" is all that unusual, and we use "they" and "themselves" when we don't know the gender of the person we are speaking of. For example: "I was leaving the party at 4 am when I realized someone took my shoes. They stole my best pair." We also ask "why does a person kill themselves (or themself)" — again when the gender is ambiguous, because we "himself or herself" is often cumbersome.People should realize that dictionaries change and grow and so should minds. Sheeesh.
Comment by Rob Butz — July 3, 2008 @ 5:28 pm
"Unfortunately themself is not really a word":
Maybe I'd say that when playing Scrabble (and you spelled during a triple-word score play) to stick it to my opponent. But uh, really, what's the problem? I find it interesting that slang is all over the place and people are fine with it, but people feel the need to invoke the "dictionary-correct English" around this issue specifically.
I don't think "themselves" is all that unusual, and we use "they" and "themselves" when we don't know the gender of the person we are speaking of. For example: "I was leaving the party at 4 am when I realized someone took my shoes. They stole my best pair." We also ask "why does a person kill themselves (or themself)" — again when the gender is ambiguous, because we "himself or herself" is often cumbersome.
People should realize that dictionaries change and grow and so should minds. Sheeesh.
Comment by Rob Butz — July 3, 2008 @ 6:28 pm