Some people regard language, when reduced to its elements, as a naming process only--a list of words, each corresponding to the thing that it names. This conception is open to criticism at several points. It assumes that ready-made ideas exist before words; it does not tell us whether a name is vocal or psychological in nature; finally, it lets us assume that the linking of a name and a thing is a very simple operation--an assumption that is anything but true." --Ferdinand de Saussure, from Part One in Course in General Linguistics
This morning I contemplated petitioning for a gender-neutral pronoun to replace the singular he/she in contexts where the gender of the subject is unknown. I want a pronoun that can replace the he when talking about God, and that can crush the false gender binary beneath its feet. Some have turned to the plural they in these circumstances. But I've determined I'm still uncomfortable using a plural pronoun in a singular grammatical construction.
Some would argue that this attempt would be futile, that the words we use don't matter nearly as much as our intention or the meaning that the words convey. But try telling a writer, an English major, or anyone interested in language and culture that words don't matter, and Saussurian responses about how language shapes culture will smack those claims right back in your face like a rubber band.
English instructors in high school used to reprimand us for using the thesaurus in Microsoft Word to beef up our language and score higher on the word choice section. In retrospect, that was probably less about condemning us for cheating and more about making sure we chose the most correct words in our essays to maximize the effectiveness of the writing. Similarly, as a poet, I'm no stranger to how changing one word can alter the meaning of the line, the stanza, or even the entire poem.
And so it is with culture. The way we communicate and the words we use to talk about issues largely shapes the way we think about these issues, which influences behavior.
The Holy Bible uses male pronouns to address God. As a result, churches placed the man at the top of a gender hierarchy and pointed to God-breathed scripture for back-up. Because the Bible said it, it must be ordained. But I believe that the Bible described God this way because of the society at the time, not because it was actually God's plan.
I bring this up not to incite dialogue about the meaningless chicken-and-egg debate, but to demonstrate how language can reject an entire group of people. It shows how language can tell women that there is no room for them to lead in the church, to be equally respected by parishioners, to be disciples, or to follow Jesus.
But the way we use language does more to a society than reinforce sexism in church. It also perpetuates homophobia, the phrase that's gay associating being queer with being lesser. It can also cause people to question their worth, fat and skinny attaching numbers and qualifiers to a person's function in society. It can also trivialize the experiences of survivors of trauma and humanitarian crises, feminazi and grammarnazi pairing zealous enforcement of equal rights or adherence to grammar norms with genocide by Nazi soldiers, respectively. It can also reward the systems and mechanisms that continue to subordinate and oppress certain groups of people.
Because I love language, I also know that policing language at the societal level doesn't work and that censorship is, by nature, oppressive. I would never call for political-scale reforms that outlaw language use. But I've determined to pay attention to my language on the individual-level. I want the way I speak to reflect the passion I have for social justice, for peace, and for humanity. I want to demonstrate my respect for human beings and their experiences. I want to speak like I care.
I want a gender-neutral pronoun so that I can simultaneously feel closer to God when addressing God and to show that I know there are people who exist in a spectrum between man and woman. I want to know that there's room for me, just as there is room for all others.
It's not about being politically correct; it's about using our language to demonstrate genuine acknowledgment, acceptance, and respect for the people that our society pushes to the side and tells there is no room for you here.
It's about using language to flip over tables and deconstruct temples.
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