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Q&A What pronoun should a hermaphrodite species use?

In my fantasy novel, I have a species that is fully hermaphroditic: all individuals have both male and female reproductive organs. Like garden snails. Consequently, they have only one gender. They...

7 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question style gender
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T21:57:20Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/34460
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:21:34Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/34460
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T08:21:34Z (over 4 years ago)
In my fantasy novel, I have a species that is fully hermaphroditic: all individuals have both male and female reproductive organs. Like garden snails. Consequently, they have only one gender.

They explicitly state that they don't mind when confused humans refer to them as he/she/it/they. Humans consider "it" to be impolite, but that's a human thing. However, what pronoun should members of this species use when talking about each other (to a human)?

1. "He was my mate"
2. "She was my mate"
3. "It was my mate"
4. "They were my mate"

All four don't sound quite right, do they? I should perhaps add that I don't want this species to sound awkward. They're supposed to be, in some ways, higher being than humans.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-03-21T00:15:24Z (about 6 years ago)
Original score: 19