Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Gender Issues

I am aware that many of the readers of this blog are male. Many others are female. I often have specific people in mind when writing and certainly intend for both genders to read what I wrote. But when I refer to a person, I almost always use "he" or "him" and not the female alternatives of "she" and "her" [even if my specific intended "address" is a female]. It is not intended as an offense, G-d forbid, against the gender who is the actualization of Hashem's will in the world [she-asani kirtzono - see siddur olas ri'iyah] and frankly, responsible for my and everyone else's existence in the world [us men have not yet managed to develop wombs, seriously limiting our ability to produce babies]. It is just that I am a guy and I find it more modest to refer to other guys like me. But if the ladies feel left out in some way please tell me and I will try to modify my usage.