Tricky for sure. For years in writing the term he/she was used a lot and I found that mentally exhausting and personally chose to use the term they instead. Sounded okay and looked fine in written form.
In the clinic I see more of this with young and old “coming out” and wanting to be identified in different ways. Some are choosing change in their gender ID and transgender (surgical and otherwise) is another issue altogether.
It can be confounding and confusing. I try to avoid pronouns and just go with the name the individual was given or has taken. It can get a little cumbersome, but is generally safe and helps keep a neutral ground.
Perhaps the linguists of the day need to invent a few new words pronouns that are not for male or female as using it would not be good either since it usually refers to an object or action. Them/they only makes language confusing as now it would refer to an individual and not a group.
I’ve been accepting the singular “they” in student papers for over a decade. It fills a need (and I recently heard that it has a centuries-old track record). I do cringe when I see “themself.”
I guess it is old, but I don’t think anyone has solved the subject-verb debate. My focus will be one pronoun consistency. They still need to follow that rule. No mixing pronouns!
The Untimely Typewriter:Daily Writings Against the Tides of Distraction 
Tricky for sure. For years in writing the term he/she was used a lot and I found that mentally exhausting and personally chose to use the term they instead. Sounded okay and looked fine in written form.
In the clinic I see more of this with young and old “coming out” and wanting to be identified in different ways. Some are choosing change in their gender ID and transgender (surgical and otherwise) is another issue altogether.
It can be confounding and confusing. I try to avoid pronouns and just go with the name the individual was given or has taken. It can get a little cumbersome, but is generally safe and helps keep a neutral ground.
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Perhaps the linguists of the day need to invent a few new words pronouns that are not for male or female as using it would not be good either since it usually refers to an object or action. Them/they only makes language confusing as now it would refer to an individual and not a group.
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The Swedes have ze and zir. That would work.
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I’ve been accepting the singular “they” in student papers for over a decade. It fills a need (and I recently heard that it has a centuries-old track record). I do cringe when I see “themself.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
I guess it is old, but I don’t think anyone has solved the subject-verb debate. My focus will be one pronoun consistency. They still need to follow that rule. No mixing pronouns!
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