Gender descriptions in my MSN text

[nursesail]

I noticed that one of the texts I am reading tends to discriminate in gender. I was reading an article and everyone in there was a "she". In the past, most articles I have read trade off with a "he" here and a "she" there. Has anyone else had this problem?

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

it's a problem?

[nursesail]

I think it is. I found it distracting and prejudicial. It was comments like "the farmer can't help her family", followed by "the carpenter doesn't know what she will do." Very strange. I would have said "the farmer can't help his family and the carpenter does not know what she will do."

[GOMER42]

:icon_roll

[Dolce, RN]

Its funny that you mentioned that its in your text book. I noticed that in one of the nursing journals I receive. I can't remember if it was AJN or Nursing2009 but one of them did the same thing. It stood out to me when I read it, too, and I couldn't figure out why the authors were doing that.

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

EDIT: Nevermind, trying to refrain from arguing in silly PC conversations.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

I remember when I was doing papers, in the olden days...there was a movement to stop using "he" or other male references all the time when referring to someone that could be either gender. Then, it was recommended to just use "she" or other female references instead (maybe to make up for long-term ignoring of the feminine?). It was suggested in the APA writing style book. It gets tiresome to write he/she all the time. I think that's what was going on in the things you read.

[talaxandra]

I know in the social sciences using the female pronoun is a commonly accepted practice to redress the traditional use of 'he.' When the use of male pronouns was first criticised defenders of its use argued that 'he' included girls and women, prompting the response that 'she' is as inclusive of boys and men.

[Bree124, BSN, RN]

Some texts have a notation in the front that for the sake of ease and consistency, "he" or "she" is the noun/pronoun used throughout the book, but that the use refers to either males or females and isn't mean to describe a certain gender.

I had at least two texts in my other college degree that had the above mentioned notation. I think sometimes, in our PC-driven culture, we place a little too much emphasis on being fair when it probably doesn't matter a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.

Now, if the text was referring to "his lady parts" or "her prostate," that might seem a little bit weird to me.

[heron, ASN, RN]

Perhaps the cognitive dissonance triggered by referring to a farmer as "she" might lead one to question one's own assumptions about gender and work?

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

I wish we had gender neutral personal pronouns in the English language. So yeah, these kinds of things bug me too.

Sometimes I wonder how the male nursing students feel when all they hear is "she" referred to nurses.

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

Sometimes I wonder how the male nursing students feel when all they hear is "she" referred to nurses.

Quite simply, it is irrelevant to me. I have never given it a second thought. Or a first one, for that matter.