Tepifying the English language
How will the English language evolve in response to the increasing pressure from people who have been damaged by the binary gender model so intertwined in the history of the language? What can we do to create a future that frees people from having to constantly reinforce this flawed model, just to be able to communicate as expected? A very simple idea is to start using a new word, “tep”, in place of the gendered pronouns “she” and “he”.
Binary gender model
The binary gender model (and the binary sex model) has served humanity and English speakers by making it easy for people to know who the eligible potential partners were when selecting someone to procreate with. This need is no longer as necessary as it once was, and so it is time to make a greater effort to leave behind this flawed model, much like Newton's law of universal gravitation was eventually left behind and replaced by Einstein's model of general relativity.
The Origin of Gender (2018-09-25)
The Gender Map (2014-07-08)
Binary sex model and intersex
Many humans have vulvas. Many humans have penises. A significant percentage of humans are born intersex. Intersex people do not need to be fixed in order to fit the human constructed binary sex model. Discontinuing the outdated model of assigning a value of either female or male at birth would be a step in the right direction for causing less damage to people who don't easily fit this model.
"Biosex" vs "Assigned Sex" with Ash Hardell (2017-11-22)
Less Harmful Language (2014-06-04)
Intersex Youtube playlist
Transgender
Many humans are assigned a value of sex at birth which is not in alignment with the natural expression of their own humanity as determined by societal expectations of gender performance. Instead of altering humans to fit in to the binary gender model and societal expectations, we can abandon the binary gender model and alter societal expectations of natural human expression.
Why is children’s clothing so gendered? (2020-01-03)
As a feminist, I thought princesses were the worst. Then my daughter wanted to be one (2019-12-17)
It's Time to Let Boys Be Girly (2018-03-03)
Gender Youtube playlist
Reformation of language
Dr. Lindsay Doe stated in episode 17 of the Sexplanations podcast entitled “I remember when Ms. came out”, at about 32:00:
What I think we're gonna end up seeing is a total reformation of language, where we're not using terms like male, female, gender, biosex, heterosexual, homosexual, asexual, etc. It's all going to be reformatted because we're coming from mistakes in our language that are built on mistakes in our language, etc. and they're not grounded in what we know about human diversity.
Adopting a model that frees us from thinking within the gender binary of female and male is a significant first step that is supported by the gender neutral pronoun that is “tep”. Just as we have recently decided that the word “actor” should apply equally to anyone acting, eschewing the word “actress”, there are other opportunities for new gender free language. For example, it would be useful to have a term for a parent’s sibling (parling?) to replace aunt and uncle or a sibling’s children (sibren?) to replace niece and nephew.
Swedish hen
Language shapes thinking. For example, Sweden recently introduced a gender-neutral pronoun. Psychologists say it's already changing the way people think. (2019-08-19). The non-gendered pronoun is hen. A study concludes that gender-neutral pronouns reduce biases: He, she, or ... ? Gender-neutral pronouns reduce biases – study (2019-08-05).
Other languages have other possible ways to address this issue: A guide to how gender-neutral language is developing around the world (2019-12-15).
Raised Without Gender (2017-07-25)
Ms
Thinking can shape language. A good fairly recent example in English is the honorific “Ms”. Previously to the popularization of this term, the terms “Mrs.” and “Miss” were used, specifically as a way to identify whether someone was eligible as a potential partner to possibly procreate with.
As a society, we decided that this distinction was no longer serving us, and so the term “Ms” started to be used more and more often, until the definition of the use of the English language (via dictionaries) was modified to describe this new usage of the term.
In the same way, you and I have the power to evolved the English language simply by choosing to use the new word, “tep”. The more people use it, the quicker the word will spread and the quicker it will end up defined in the dictionaries of the English language. We can change language to suit our needs.
Language Youtube playlist
Advantages of tep over previous proposals
Other proposed gender neutral pronouns such as “sie”, “zie”, “per”, and “thon” have not gained enough popularity to be adopted into the English language. The difference with “tep” is that anyone can start to use it immediately to replace all usages of “she” and “he”. It is easily defined to another by saying “tep is short for the person or that person”. Supporting the simplification of English verb conjugation by using the same conjugation for tep as for the pronoun “their” is also relatively easy to adopt.
Adopting “tep” also has the advantage of avoiding completely the notion of finding out what pronouns a person prefers to be used for them in order to refer to them.
Virgin Just Added Gender Pronouns to Email Signatures. Should Your Company Do the Same? (2019-09-27)
He, she, they: The changing face of gender pronouns (2019-11-17)
He, She, They: Workplaces Adjust As Gender Identity Norms Change (2019-10-16)
He/she versus they/them (2020-01-22)
Gender Pronouns Can Be Tricky on Campus. Harvard Is Making Them Stick. (2020-02-19)
Lesson of the Day: ‘Gender Pronouns Can Be Tricky on Campus. Harvard Is Making Them Stick.’ (2020-03-05)
Gender pronouns Youtube playlist
Officially adopting tep, actions you can take
With these advantages, perhaps tep will set a record for how quickly it will make it into the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
If you feel the pronoun tep is a viable option, then here are some actions that can be taken.
Start using the word tep in your everyday language
Create written material using tepified English
Translate existing text using tepified English
Create merchandise that raises awareness of tep as a way to ungender the English language
Create or rearrange songs, plays, theatre pieces, movies, entertainment of any kind using tepified English
Request that Google translate be updated to provide a translation service between English B.T. and English A.T.
Share your own suggestions and ideas via comments on this blog or emailing the blog owner