Some argue we need one gender for socially progressive reasons. Others simply want one to perfect their writing. But so far more than a hundred attempts have failed.
Language, like life, feels easier to deal with if we arrange it into binaries: Wrong/right; Gay/straight; Labour/Conservative. Terms lurking between the two poles are often unfairly maligned. We’re often wary of anything that is neither one nor the other: Justifiable homicide; Bisexual; The Liberal Democrats.
The same goes for him/her. We seem far more comfortable when people are either men or women. The reality is different. There are people who self-define as neither, as gender-nonbinary. To those who see gender as a construct, this makes perfect sense. But the English language fails to reflect it.
