**UPDATE 6/13/21 -- I JUST realized I didn't include the video I had intended to with this post last week. I have included it now!**
Happy Pride Month, everyone!
I just wanted to share a quick anecdote from this weekend...
Yesterday, I attended a birthday dinner for a friend (yet another FSU alum!). When I arrived at the restaurant, I was seated next to one of her friends whom I had never met before. As soon as I sat down, I was greeted with "My name is [NAME], and my pronouns are They/Them." I am going to be completely honest with you, I was a little taken aback. Not at all because they shared their pronouns with me -- on the contrary, I'm so glad they did -- I was actually surprised because this was one of the first conversations I have had like this IRL!
I am fully comfortable using the pronouns I was assigned at birth, but that does not give me the right to assume the same for others. I also cannot imagine that it's fun or comfortable having to alert everyone you meet what pronouns you use to identify -- so if someone is going to take the time to constantly put themselves through such scrutiny every single time, it must be very important to them (and should be respected). More than anything from that conversation yesterday, I'm still kicking myself that I didn't follow their greeting with "Nice to meet you! My name is Ello, and my pronouns are He/Him..."
I was proud to see recent changes in the online community that have made the sharing of one's pronouns more accessible. A few weeks ago, Instagram added the ability to add them to your profile, and even FSU added the function to Canvas in May; I have even noticed at work that external e-mails from some clients are coming in with pronouns listed as part of their signatures (I actually need to follow up with HR and see what our policy is on including them in our own signatures).
As I prepare to embark on my Instructional Design journey, I need to be especially mindful of practices that promote exclusivity and uplift marginalized folx. The biggest thing I can do, especially as a cisgender male, is to not assume how people identify. Perhaps examples I use in future instruction will also include gender-neutral terminology. I am so curious to spend some time digging a little deeper to learn more about such practices and how they have developed over the past few years -- please feel free to share any particularly insightful ones you may know of!
For now, I'd like to leave you with a link to a brief video from speaker/activist @thejeffreymarsh regarding the use of "They" as an inclusive pronoun.
Cheers!
-Ello (he/him/his)
YEAH! so glad you had IRL experience like this! I've had my pronouns in my signatures for a while now, even at FDLE, and have not gotten any pushback. I include them all the time as it demonstrates my openness and genuine interest in knowing what yours are as well as a willingness to use your correct pronouns. I was so excited when we (the Curriculum Section at FDLE) made the decision to stop using him/her, she/she, etc. I went into every course with a vengeance and changed all of it. Now when I write, I automatically use they, it has become second nature.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this! It's so great to hear the FDLE is supportive of proper pronoun usage, and I definitely agree with your sentiment that including pronouns "demonstrates...openness and genuine interest..." I have found that I have also started including they in my writing sometimes, though not exclusively yet tbh.
Deleteand I just saw this in Pockets https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/06/gender-neutral-pronouns-arent-new/619092/
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic article -- thank you for posting! I will be completely honest, I struggled briefly with the singular "they" purely from a grammatical standpoint, but until recently I didn't realize how far-spreading it has been historically. I was intrigued by the adoption of "co" in the article -- have you ever encountered that pronoun?
Delete