cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/20091173
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.
Thanks for responding! I hope you have the patience to help me understand a bit more. :)
I guess we differ on whether you can respectfully refer to someone without gendered language?
Meaning, the mistake was assuming you could be neutral, not on not knowing the requested gender.
E.g. in academia (at least in my country) we tend to talk about authors of a particular paper as “they” whether they are one, several, male, female etc, even if you know their gender. It is consided respectful, unassuming and inclusive.
Do you think it is disrespectful to e.g. say “I love my partner, they bought me legos for christmas” when talking about my spouse to a colleague even I know she’s female? Where my motivation is to not have gender in the conversation?
Of course! Thanks for asking and being open ☺
Yeah I think this is totally normal and okay, but if the particular paper in question, e.g., is about gender, and the author writes about their unique gender, I think it would be inappropriate/disrespectful to not use their preferred pronouns°
It definitely depends on the person and the culture. Some people, cis or not, feel a strong internal sense of their gender, and may feel misrepresented when referred to with neutral pronouns. (Further reading °if I were writing a paper and referenced this author, I would be sure to use Their preferred pronouns, because Their pronouns are known and relevant (They/Them, Capitalized))
I’m quite queer and have facial hair, so when I refer to my partner with neutral pronouns, people assume she’s a man, and then she has an uncomfortable first interaction with those people when they meet her, and wonders if I’m embarrassed to be in a relationship with a woman.
Personally, if I hear someone specific being referred to with they/them pronouns when their preferred pronouns ought to be known, I assume they’re non-binary, trans, or at least some sort of queer
Ultimately, ‘they/them’ pronouns aren’t entirely neutral. Those pronouns imply personhood, can strip away identity from some, and are an identity for others
Thanks again! I’m feeling a bit different about the exact lines here, but it helps me a lot to understand why and where it might hurt others.
People who take their time to respond thoughfully like you do, make online spaces much easier to navigate.
What an impressive way to phrase that. I haven’t heard such intentional language since my social work program lol
You’ve demonstrated this better yourself than I did imo, so thanks for that!