Do you baulk at this sentence? :
"One day, a scientist will build a computer more intelligent than himself."
It's a difficult problem. "Himself" is the established, albeit frowned upon usage. "Herself" shows you are not sexist, but it is (in my view) toadying. "Themselves", the via media, is not good, because it seems to duplicate the scientist. "Himself or herself" is laborious.
Then I read this in the Oxford Dictionary:
The standard reflexive form corresponding to they and them is themselves, as in: they can do it themselves. The singular form themself, first recorded in the 14th century, has reemerged in recent years corresponding to the singular gender-neutral use of they, as in | this is the first step in helping someone to help themself. The form is not widely accepted in standard English, however.
What do you think? About the sentence? About "themself"? About the issue of gender in writing? As a woman? As a man?
OP
