Language usage

Now that I look over my paper, I don’t actually see a problem with my usage of pronouns, only the fact that I picked the sexes for the people involved. For my narrative, I picked the stereotypical choice of sex for each occupation. However, I think that we do need a universal pronoun for a guy or a girl. I speak two languages and I find that English does not have a universal pronoun like Vietnamese. People always say that English is the most commonly used language in the world, yet we don’t even have something as simple as that? I think there needs to be a change in our language, not just dictionary but also every day use. However, this will be hard because the fact that we have lived many years using this kind of language and people are hard to change. But I think we should still do it because sooner is better than later. I think that pronouns have a lot to do with our culture. It has an effect on how we view society and what we stereotype as roles for men or women. Because of our usage of language we often mistake police officers or fire fighters to be men. However, this is not the case, there are women working in many of these area. Things are starting to change. However, I disagree with the fact that the universal word should be used all the time. The universal word should only be used when the sex is not determined and ‘he’ or ‘she’ is not applicable. As for Le Guin’s usage of the pronoun he in the book, I think that she is right when using the word ‘he’. First reason is because Genly, who tells the story most of the time, lived on Earth for many years where people had different sexes. And like our society, they use ‘he’ dominantly so it would make sense that Genly would grow up and be affected by society and use ‘he’ in his speech and thinking. As for Estraven, who also tells the story, I think he should have a different word, this is true. Because there is no male or female in Gethen, so maybe he should have a different word to describe a person. However, maybe ‘he’ is the universal word in Gethen, because we have never seen them use the word ‘she’.