I’ve been waiting until after Christmas day to make this post, but some of our communities recently have had a lot of noise and upset over someone that uses neopronouns that most people are unfamiliar with.
So I want to make this clear. A persons pronouns are to be respected. This is true when the user is using neopronouns that you’re unfamiliar with. It’s true even if you think someone is trolling. Pronouns are not rewards for good behaviour. They aren’t only to be respected when you like the person you’re interacting with, or if their pronouns “make sense” to you. Trolls, spammers, twitter users, it doesn’t matter who they are, your options are to respect their pronouns, or to not engage with them.
I really want to re-iterate the importance of this. Gender diverse folk are undermined, invalidated and questioned at every step of our lives. As a community, we need to be working to undo that, not creating more of it, and that means there is no space for treating pronouns (including neopronouns) as a reward for good behaviour.
This isn’t a free reign for trolls and spammers. The rules still apply. Trolling, spamming, etc will continue to be dealt with, but it’s not an excuse to act as if respecting someones pronouns is optional.
Why would I be offended by people who are clinical? Society is the one who creates the labels. The problem with ‘neopronouns’ are that you’re just attempting to force society to participate in your delusions. Those that enable this behavior are mentally ill.
I’m not offended at all, it’s hilarious watching you guys all ball up in tiny little corners of the internet and amplify this weirdness just like Conservatives do. So much that it becomes a clown show where views get more and more extreme. Over the years I’ve watched it evolve from people who just wanted gender-norms not to apply to them, all the way to this – people thinking they’re soooo unique that they get their own custom language they can force others to use.
Hell, I was recently told that the phrase “Regular Heterosexual Stuff” was demeaning and actively harming people. So, when all the voices of sanity are drowned out by those who don’t want to hear it – I voice it more. Without voices from the outside, this kind of behavior actively harms society as it amplifies and doesn’t have anyone questioning it.