This time it seems to center around the use of the English language (which does not have a gender neutral pronoun).
Is it possible to write gender-neutral (as opposed to say balanced) text and still entertain?
Yes. But if the audience is spending more time counting the number of times you used he and she rather than actually reading the book, then you haven’t a chance.
I write based on personal experience. There are no women in my gaming group and most of the guys do not choose to play female characters. When writing I do mix the pronouns but that’s more for readability rather than anything else. Referring to two male characters as “he” gets confusing, as would referring to two female characters as “she”. Which one do we mean? Bish, bosh, change one of them and the readability increases.
It still won’t be good enough for the people counting pronouns.
I was genuinely interested in why it was an issue. I think the comments on the LJ cross-post were kind of enlightening on the subject for me. Why it’s an issue for many women but not so much for men. All-in-all, sexism in gaming (and in general) still seems to be a hot topic in the ole’ blog-o-sphere.
Why it’s an issue for women and not for men is because there’s an inherent bias. This was covered last time round (when my name was trashed as a women-hating virtual rapist blah blah because I didn’t think that being a sycophant to people who are looking to be offended was a desirable position).
Henry Rollins says: