Alphabet of discrimination: Letter G--Gender pronouns

 

One day, a member of our community asked a member of Equity Buckfield “What’s happening in our country right now that’s so bad? Give me one example.” Our member thought to themself, “I could probably think of something for every letter of the alphabet.” And so they did.

Using and respecting people's pronouns is one of the simplest ways we can fight discrimination and respect each other. Unfortunately, pronouns have become a divisive topic in some spaces and their importance and use are often misunderstood.

Let's be clear: Those who claim "not to have" pronouns often simply don't understand what a pronoun is. Let's take a look.

The English language has nine parts of speech: Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. Pronouns are simply the words we use to sometimes replace nouns. 

Consider the following sentence:

Trey really enjoys skateboarding. He has been learning to skateboard for five years, and he started after his sister gave him his first skateboard for his seventh birthday.

Now, let's remove the pronouns: 

Trey really enjoys skateboarding. Trey has been learning to skateboard for five years, and Trey started after Trey's sister gave Trey Trey's first skateboard for Trey's seventh birthday.

Unless you prefer that people talk about you this second way, then you are someone who has pronouns. Some people have specific pronouns; for example, they would only like to be referred to as "she" and "her" and would be offended to be referred to by other pronouns. Some people are okay with any pronouns others use to refer to them. Others are okay with two, three or more types of pronouns.

The most important thing to remember when we learn about pronouns is that once we know someone's pronouns, we need to use that person's pronouns when referring to them. 

Sometimes people are hesitant to share their pronouns if they are unsure whether they are in a safe space. One of the best ways to make everyone feel comfortable is to normalize including pronouns in introductions. We can do this both during individual introductions: 

"Hi! I'm Tracy and my pronouns are she/her."

or when doing group introductions, when a facilitator/moderator could instruct:

"Welcome to the workshop. Let's begin by going around the room and introducing ourselves. Please share your name, your pronouns and your favorite way to relax."

For more, check out this graphic about gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns from the 519: