I always thought it was a bit funny that for the last 30 years people have been tying themselves in knots and creating stunningly ugly sentences to try to get around the "problem" that not all their readers are of the same gender.

For those who insist on being PC, we do have a neutral pronoun - "it" - but people don't like to have it applied to them.

don�t ask me why and I am not "machist/whatever" but I always see photographers as man, don�t see that often woman with cameras but actually it turned me on a lot   maybe that because 90% of the woman that are photographers are hot

I've seen a lot of female photographers and videographers at art exhibition openings and live gigs lately...

besides being usually hot - I've noticed that too - maybe they are smarter than us and manage to get passes for few but interesting assignments, not the boring kind

Wow! Rampant sexism!!!

hot women deserve better jobs not only in photography!!!

Yes, it's understood but I like the "somewhat awkward he/she" ^^ better

Quote from: microstockphoto.co.uk on May 09, 2011, 10:36

Yes, it's understood but I like the "somewhat awkward he/she" ^^ better

Sexist! What's wrong with she/he?

Who said it's wrong? Not me. I said that I like "he/she" better than "he" as gender-neutral; she/he is equally good of course, but even less used.

And - above, when you called me "sexist" for the first time - did I imply that women are getting jobs they don't deserve because they are hot, or did I question their photographic skills? Not at all

I said they are hot AND smart, as in 4.:

smart adj (smarter, smartest) 1 neat, trim and well-dressed. 2 clever; witty; astute or shrewd. 3 expensive, sophisticated and fashionable. 4 quick, adept and efficient in business
[from the Chambers Harrap dictionary]

You seem to exaggerate my observations as if they were absolute, negative statements. Sorry, I didn't mean to reply but being called "sexist" twice in the same thread, I felt like I had to.

For generations now, when referring to the someone in the third person, the male reference ("he", "him," "his," etc.) is understood to be gender-neutral in the applicable contexts.  If it offends someone, then someone needs to get over it.

Yep.  This is how I learned it to.  I'm a female photographer (not hot though, sorry to disappoint ) and I am certainly not offended by it. 

I'm teasing you. (Actually, I didn't realise I had picked on the same person twice). Don't get upset about it. I'm sure I'm a million times more "sexist" than you are. But there was a small point - that when you start trying to hunt for things that someone or other might get offended about and then go out of your way to avoid it, you risk creating new offence. He/she isn't neutral, neither is she/he. If people are going to be so sensitive they will get offended whatever you do.

No problem 

Pretty easy to reword to avoid the issue:

"The photographer is required to disable the file permanently from all other places where it is available for sale."

I find that offensive.   It assumes that all submitters are photographers. I am an illustrator, I never stoop to submiting mere photos. (Photography is for people who want to make pictures but who lack skill, talent, and imagination.)

I say we illustrators should sue DT and lobby Congress to pass laws to protect us from image-discrimination.

LOL come on guys!

ahahahah photographers should be only woman and HOT (I can PM if anybody wants to see a few hot photographers all around the world)

every person on the internet is a straight white american male in their mid 20s. even when proven otherwise

A couple of weeks ago, someone seemed astonished to see me take a photo with a long lens, "Oh, I thought that was your husband's camera and you were carrying it for him!"
(I'd love a camera sherpa, though!)

OMG.  LOL!  My husband is my camera/lighting sherpa

I know what you mean though.  When  I used to do weddings, my husband and I would show up at the church early to connect with the minister, church staff, etc., and most of the time they assumed he was the photographer. 

Wow, I didn't realise how many people would post replies on this topic... I thought it was just a funny mistake I found but looks like I've started a decent discussion...

Quote from: Megastock on May 09, 2011, 11:56

Pretty easy to reword to avoid the issue:

"The photographer is required to disable the file permanently from all other places where it is available for sale."

I find that offensive.   It assumes that all submitters are photographers. I am an illustrator, I never stoop to submiting mere photos. (Photography is for people who want to make pictures but who lack skill, talent, and imagination.)

I say we illustrators should sue Dreamstime and lobby Congress to pass laws to protect us from image-discrimination.

You're in luck - Dreamstime is already one step ahead   No need to involve Congress -  the new 1 and 3 year extended licenses have updated text:

"The Contributor will be required to disable the file permanently from all other places where he or she may sell it, as soon as possible after the sale occured, but no longer than 72 hours."

Quote from: Megastock on May 10, 2011, 16:59

You're in luck - Dreamstime is already one step ahead   No need to involve Congress -  the new 1 and 3 year extended licenses have updated text:

"The Contributor will be required to disable the file permanently from all other places where he or she may sell it, as soon as possible after the sale occured, but no longer than 72 hours."

As usual, they are super responsive to contributor concerns.  In this case I think it was a non-issue though. 

Wow, a happy ending! I love happy endings.

I would personally much rather be called he than he/she simply because a sentence doesn't read right with he/she. It is  correct english to use he if you don't know what sex person you are talking about.

Pretty easy to reword to avoid the issue:

"The photographer is required to disable the file permanently from all other places where it is available for sale."

Yeah.... but where's the fun in that???   

Back to the original theme

I have noticed that in the last few years female actresses no longer refer to themselves as actresses but as actors . . . . .  when did this change? Has it always been like that and I didn't notice?

I think the word actor is gender neutral..but I think you are right that it is becoming more common for females to be called actors

Quote from: redfox on May 15, 2011, 02:41

Quote from: etienjones on May 13, 2011, 07:04

Back to the original theme

I have noticed that in the last few years female actresses no longer refer to themselves as actresses but as actors . . . . .  when did this change? Has it always been like that and I didn't notice?

I think the word actor is gender neutral..but I think you are right that it is becoming more common for females to be called actors

It's really rather funny, isn't it? On he/she some people object to "he" being used as gender-neutral because it is sexist, but actresses are rejecting the female specific term for themselves - also on the grounds of sexism - and adopting the term for males.

Authoresses have also rejected the sexist suffix and become authors, but I feel reasonably confident that a female actor would feel slighted if she was referred to as a "screen god" but would delight in being a "screen goddess".

Isn't language fun?

Yes with English being one of the funnier ones. I live in Bali now and I'm pretty fluent in Indonesian. I really like using it as it's pretty logical and for day to day conversation you can say what you want to say using very few words, often just using one word is enough. Just think of all the money people save on their phone bills. The word they have for him and her is genderless, they just say dia, pronounced deea. Also the word Goddess doesn't exist and neither does landlady, landladies are called landlords too and they don't have actors or actresses and authors or authoresses, they just say stars and writers.