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From: mkinyon@peabody.iusb.indiana.edu (Michael Kinyon)
Subject: Re: Black's gender
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References: <67910.mamster@pomona.edu> <1995Oct31.092900@oxvaxd> <ckZaB9K00WB581G5If@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 00:14:15 GMT
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In article <ckZaB9K00WB581G5If@andrew.cmu.edu>,
Andrew C. Plotkin <erkyrath+@CMU.EDU> wrote:
>(This contains spoilers for an early part of Jigsaw -- basically, if
>you haven't met Black, don't read this.)

>Now, in the absence of any cues, I'd pictured my own character as a male.

Yes, I recall that I did the same thing.  In fact, at first I imagined myself 
as being identical to (Insert your first name here) Meldrew, the protagonist 
of Curses.  Later, I dropped this assumption, though I was still imagining my 
character to be as hapless as my Meldrew persona. 

>... and I stuck in the usual generic image of me.

Yes, except in both games, whenever I looked in a mirror, I saw myself as
being... well... English.

>Then Black was introduced, without any gender specifics. My brain
>cheerfully stuck in a generic male image (in black).

Interesting indeed.  I immediately stuck in a white female (in black).

>I find it really strange that my subconscious found it easier to slip
>that aspect of myself, rather than the (apparently simpler) change of
>considering a gender-unspecified "person" as female.

Perhaps there is a psychological lesson here: it is easier to adjust an
assumption about one's character's sexuality than it is to adjust a mental
visual image of another character.  On the other hand, it is more likely
that I just overgeneralized from one case.

>This must shed some light on the old argument over whether "he" is an
>acceptable third-person-neuter pronoun. Damned if I can figure out
>which side it supports, though.

If someone figures this out, would, uh, that someone tell the rest of us?

Michael Meldrew
(still trying to find the Rod of Mathematics)

-- 
Michael Kinyon                  | email: mkinyon@peabody.iusb.edu
Dept of Mathematics & Comp. Sci.| http://sun1.iusb.edu/faculty/mkinyon/
Indiana University South Bend   | phone: (219)-237-4240
South Bend, IN 46634 USA        | fax:   (219)-237-4538
