I'd like to suggest that everyone pick up a little book titled "The
Handbood of Nonsexist Writing", by Casey Miller & Kate Swift.  A second
edition came out in 1988 (first published in 1980); there may be
subsequent editions.

The authors give a historical perspective on the supposedly generic
masculine that is assumed correct in most English writing.  They also
give easy solutions to such incorrect assumptions for most
situations--including correspondence.

These issues are larger than simply how we address each other on this
list--underlying assumptions in language are a crucial consideration
in catalog writing, gallery labels and text, etc.  As with the earlier
discussion on ethnic bias, gender bias is insidious, obvious to those
whose sensitivities have been raised, and really quite easy to fix.

Pat Roath
Elizabeth Sage Historic Costume Collection
Indiana University, Bloomington
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