Have you noticed the use of ‘their’ as a gender neutral ‘his’ and ‘her’ in language? This is the kind of thing I can remember doing in 6th grade when avoiding gender specificity of the person in question to avoid being teased about associating with a girl. I’ve just noticed recently that Facebook does this as a rule when referring to people.
Jane Kelly added “Harold and Maude” to their favorite movies
I can see a number of practical reasons from a computing standpoint. This saves having to hunt in a database somewhere in facebook to see what gender is tied to a name and then put the corresponding his or her, so there’s your practical reason. I think though it points to a more widespread use of ‘their’ as genderless and pointing to an increased need for such a thing or a preference to referring to people without highlighting their gender, though what motivates that is another thing entirely. I’ve found this short history of the use of the single their there, no, I mean, here. It’s an interesting little linguistic resurgence, another mark that we’re slowly and steadily emerging from the repressed and oppressive gender conventions of the Victorian era and afterward.
