Eli5: Why do you use “they” for non-gendered speech instead of “it”?

Question

I’m not a native speaker, but as far as I understood, for singular objects and animals “it” was used. Why use “they” for individual people then?

In: 1400

Answer 1

In English, “it” is specifically used for non-human things. To use “it” implies that the thing being referenced is not a person.

Using “it” in reference to a person is a form of dehumanizing that person, indicating that they are a thing (like a park bench) and not a person (like you and me).