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Gender Neutral Pronouns for Childrens Book

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  • 21-05-2017 11:40pm
    #1
    GraMoore
    Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭


    Hi,

    I'm hoping for some help regarding a project we are working on. We are writing a childrens fairy tale book with the main character as a fairy. We were going to have the charachter as a female lead but we are looking at the idea of it being gender neutral and using the pronouns such as they/their/them instead of gender pronouns.

    The worry we have though is it could be confusing for a child between the age of 5-8 as its generally taught that they are plural.

    Could we ask some advise? Are schools teaching gender neutral characters? Do you think it would be confusing for a child? Whats your personal opinion on a gender neutral fairy tale book?

    Below is a sample script using they/their/them pronouns if that helps

    "walked out of their home and as they turned looked back upon their door as to say goodbye as they knew their journey that they were about to embark on could mean that they may not return for a very long time"

    Thanks in advance


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    #2
    HamsterFace
    Closed Accounts Posts: 832 ✭✭✭HamsterFace


    GraMoore wrote: »
    Hi,

    I'm hoping for some help regarding a project we are working on. We are writing a childrens fairy tale book with the main character as a fairy. We were going to have the charachter as a female lead but we are looking at the idea of it being gender neutral and using the pronouns such as they/there/them instead of gender pronouns.

    The worry we have though is it could be confusing for a child between the age of 5-8 as its generally taught that they are plural.

    Could we ask some advise? Are schools teaching gender neutral characters? Do you think it would be confusing for a child? Whats your personal opinion on a gender neutral fairy tale book?

    Below is a sample script using they/their/them pronouns if that helps

    "walked out of there home and as they turned looked back upon there door as to say goodbye as they knew there journey that they were about to embark on could mean that they may not return for a very long time"

    Thanks in advance

    *their


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    #3
    GraMoore
    Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭GraMoore


    Thanks amended


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    #4
    solerina
    Registered Users Posts: 2,435 ✭✭✭solerina


    I understand people's right to use gender neutral pronouns but as they are generally so much in the minority I don't see the need for kids to be confused by them in a fairy tale.


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    #5
    GraMoore
    Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭GraMoore


    Thanks Solerina, that's our initial thoughts as well! It's difficult in today's PC culture to understand exactly what you can and cant do without getting a huge backlash


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