What's Your Pronoun?

Beyond He and She

De: Dennis Baron

Narrado por: Paul Boehmer

Contextualizing one of the most pressing cultural questions of our generation, Dennis Baron reveals the untold story of how we got from he and she to zie and hir and singular-they.

Like trigger warnings and gender-neutral bathrooms, pronouns are sparking a national debate, prompting new policies in schools, workplaces, even prisons, about what pronouns to use. Colleges ask students to declare their pronouns along with their majors; corporate conferences print name tags with space to add pronouns; email signatures sport pronouns along with names and titles. Far more than a by-product of the culture wars, gender-neutral pronouns are, however, nothing new. Pioneering linguist Dennis Baron puts them in historical context, noting that Shakespeare used singular-they; women invoked the generic use of he to assert the right to vote (while those opposed to women's rights invoked the same word to assert that he did not include she); and people have been coining new gender pronouns, not just hir and zie, for centuries. Based on Baron's own empirical research, What's Your Pronoun? chronicles the story of the role pronouns have played-and continue to play-in establishing both our rights and our identities. It is an essential work in understanding how 21st-century culture has evolved.

©2020 Dennis Baron (P)2020 Tantor

Facts Facts and more Facts

Great reference book. If you are interested in facts this is the book for you. If felt like the author did lots of research and then listed the information. I was looking for more insight on the topic.

Such a timely subject

I work in a profession that is wrestling with the complex personal, inclusion, justice, and community issues of personal pronouns. This examination of the long search for a non - binary pronoun or one not connected to gender helped me sort out my feelings about grammar, change, and much more.

great historical context

I'm gonna make my mom read this. This book is great at giving a historical context to what is going on today