 When the gender of the person referred to is unknown or indeterminate, the third-person pronoun "he" may be avoided by using gender-neutral alternatives – possibilities in English include singular "they", "he or she", or "s/he".Historically, the use of masculine pronouns in place of generic was regarded as non-sexist, but various forms of gender-neutral language became a common feature in written and spoken versions of many languages in the late twentieth century.Feminists argue that previously the practice of assigning masculine gender to generic antecedents stemmed from language reflecting "the prejudices of the society in which it evolved, and English evolved through most of its history in a male-centered, patriarchal society."