Gender Neutral Language

There are varying degrees of sexist language, and none are acceptable. Here are some examples of terms/statements you should avoid and some ideas of what to replace them with.

DEROGATORY LANGUAGE

Derogatory language is the most straightforward type of sexist language. Its purpose is to demean the person it is used to describe.

Remove all terms that could be considered derogatory to any group or individual.

DEROGATORY: Those broads really need to get a sense of humor.

STEREOTYPICAL AND GENERIC LANGUAGE

Stereotypical language (e.g. that which suggests that all secretaries are women) and generic language (e.g. that which uses male pronouns as a default) might be slightly more difficult to recognize, but they can be perceived in the same way as derogatory language.

STEROTYPICAL: When a doctor graduates from medical school, it's one of the proudest moments of his life.

This statement implies that all doctors are men, which is obviously not the case. There are a few ways to revise it:

Use singular "they" to avoid gendered pronouns

REVISED: When a doctor graduates from medical school, it's one of the proudest moments of their life.

Pluralize to avoid gendered pronouns

REVISED: When doctors graduate from medical school, it's one of the proudest moments of their lives.

Remove the gender reference

REVISED: Graduating from medical school is one of the proudest moments in a doctor's life.

Depending on the structure of the sentence, one of these strategies may work better than the others. Try to vary your use of the strategies to avoid needless repetition and stilted language.