Hi!

I hope this is an okay thing to ask/post here.

I have a couple hybrid self-help books in the works, and it occurred to me that some of the language I’ve been using is exclusionary. The tone/style is basically the opposite of magical realism, in which evidence-based therapy, psychology, and neuroscience stuff is presented as if magical.

Because of this, I can certainly make use of terms like “being,” “entity,” etc, (and I already do, to some extent) but there are times where I (maybe naïvely?) feel like I need to be more specific about what/who I’m referring to. This is important and difficult because I’m trying to avoid breaking the fourth wall by using the word “you” (or referring to the reader directly at all).

Questions/ Discussion Topics:

Do you have an opinion on the word “person”? I would argue that non-human animals are people, but I imagine it could feel dysphoric to be referred to this way

What about “one” or “individual”? This seems exclusionary of systems, and possibly objects

Is there any alternative to “human”/“humanoid” that captures the spirit of what that conveys without being problematic?

When I read “he or she,” I automatically think “ah okay, this isn’t about me.” and that feeling fucking sucks. I don’t want a single reader of mine to feel this way, if I can avoid it