For the dialogue in my story, the villains think that they are being spied on, with their computers hacked. They know someone is doing it, but they do not know who. So when the villains talk about this mystery stalker, and what to do about that person, should they refer to the stalker as him, her, or them? The person after them, is a he, but not sure what they should refer to him as, since they do not know. What do you think?
I second the motion - being worried about what other people would think can be death sentence to a story.
Are the villains worried about what other people would think? Probably not. It's their thoughts. If they are expecting the person to be a man, its their stereotype, not yours.
Yep! Another good point. You are writing a story - of a fictitious character. Whatever their POV is, is not yours.
@Ryan Elder - this. It's your characters having a conversation, so put yourself in their shoes. What would YOU say, if you were them? Plus, if the 'villains' assume the wrong gender, you can work in their shock when they discover how wrong they've been? This might be a plot point, along the lines of the leader of the Nazgul, in the LoTR trilogy's final battle, boasting, "No man can kill me." Only to discover that the soldier trying to kill him—Eowyn—is actually a woman in disguise. Uh-OH.
I would say use 'he', most people refer to God with 'He', it doesn't make them genderist. 'He' is a pronoun used generally, so it wouldn't be that much of a deal. Also, if you used 'them', it wouldn't make a good sentence, because come on, nobody gives a shit about grammer mostly and if your VILLAINS did, it would sound odd and break the flow of the sentence.
Wait. Just wait a second. Are you actually worried that your 1) physically unattractive 2) autistic 3) schizophrenic 4) blood-in LARPing SERIAL RAPISTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! will offend your audience by being androcentric? Seriously, what planet are you from?
