Monday, June 25. 2012
"It" the Wrong Pronoun for Embryos and Fetuses
Do you remember Saturday Night Live's Pat, the androgynous character played by Julia Sweeney? Sketch after sketch, the cast of SNL ask a barrage of questions trying to figure out of Pat is a boy or a girl. The assumption is that Pat is either male or female and hilarity ensues when anyone tries catch a clue as to which Pat is. The segments were called "It's Pat!"It is Pat. "It" is the pronoun used because, even though Pat is either a man or woman, we don't have any clue to which is correct.
It seems that, in the English language, this is the conventional pronoun usage for any human being that we know has a gender, we just don't know what that gender is...yet.
I am envisioning the endless "It's a girl!" balloons and "It's a boy!" napkins at my local party supply store. Lately, I am asking myself why not "She's a girl!" and "He's a boy!"?
This conventional language usage is as unfortunate as it is inaccurate, because "it" is a pronoun more commonly used used for things that are not human.
Which is why I think "it" is a pronoun that should not be applied to the unborn, either fetuses in their mother's womb or embryos in the IVF clinic. Even the earliest embryos are either male, having a Y chromosome, or female, lacking a Y chromosome. So why do we use "it" and "its" when we refer to them and their qualities? Why not use "he or she" and "his or hers"?
I have referred to an embryo as an "it" before, as have many other pro-lifers. I vow to strive to never do so again.
After all, embryos and fetuses are not "it"s. They are either a he or a she. Just because we don't know which does not mean they are any less human.
Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
No Trackbacks
Comments
Display comments as
(Linear | Threaded)
"It" has been commonly used for babies and children in English for centuries. I'm not sure why; it might be because "baby" and "child" are both neuter nouns in several Germanic languages, and household terms were in many instances the last things to lose grammatical gender in English.
As for "it's a boy" or "it's a girl", no, that's just how English works. "It's my boss at the door" is not denying that your boss has a gender—and when one says "it's raining", well, what's "it"?. English always needs to specify a subject pronoun, and for that sort of construction it defaults to neuter.
As for "it's a boy" or "it's a girl", no, that's just how English works. "It's my boss at the door" is not denying that your boss has a gender—and when one says "it's raining", well, what's "it"?. English always needs to specify a subject pronoun, and for that sort of construction it defaults to neuter.
Follow or Contact me
marymeetsdolly [dot] com
Quicksearch
Recent Entries
- New IVF Embryo Quality Control
- Wednesday, May 22 2013
- Value of IVF Embryos "Infinitely Variable?"
- Tuesday, May 21 2013
- Uterus Transplant Baby Lost
- Friday, May 17 2013
- Human Embryos Created by Cloning in Oregon
- Wednesday, May 15 2013
- California Bill Would Lift Ban on Paying Women for Eggs
- Tuesday, May 14 2013
Archives
Blogs of Interest
Warning many of the following blogs are not Catholic or pro-life!
My ears are burning...
"great title, very informative site/blog" -- Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex
"Cool blog! ...I like your honest and smart style..." -- Glenn McGee"
"A must for every pro-lifer's bookmarks." -- Fr. Tim Finigan
"really worth talking about" -- GOP Soccer Mom
"She knows her stuff..." -- Spinal Confusion
"a valuable resource" -- Amy Welborn
"a must read for any Catholic or Medical Ethicist" -- Tomfoolery of a Seminarian
"She's charitable AND loyal to the team. What a gal!" -- Amateur Catholics
"For the love of little green apples!" -- Sailorette
Categories
Blog Rings etc.
