My English students are very sensitive to these societal changes--good for them!--but they now bend over backwards to avoid using "he" and "she." This is a predictable side-effect of the broad shift in our thoughts about pronouns, but it does not always lead to coherent expression. The author's name is Erik, but the student constantly refers to this person as "they"; maybe I am just resistant to change, but to me, this is very awkward writing. If the person's name clearly identifies traditional gender, can we not continue to use the most likely pronoun?