Protect the Pronouns: Society should normalize the use of pronouns in basic interactions and on social media

Scrolling through my cluttered Instagram feed, I found a post talking about pronouns. Interested, I swiped through the bulleted list on my screen, realizing that even though I’m a cisgendered girl, I needed to have my pronouns in my bio to normalize the use of them for the LGBTQ+ community, and for my own benefit so that my pronouns aren’t assumed. I quickly swiped to my profile and put in “she/her” in my practically empty bio.

Simply putting your pronouns in your bio shows that you’re an ally of the community and that you stand with them.

Using someone’s correct pronouns is the most basic form of respect that you could give them, especially if it’s a person with pronouns such as they/them or he/they where they can be easily misgendered.

The idea that pronouns can be based on someone’s physical appearance or presentation is one that many cisgendered people have, because they’ve never had to worry about being misgendered. Showing that gender is not something to be assumed by placing pronouns in your bio is lifting a huge burden off of people who are gender fluid, gender non-conforming, non-binary, transgender, etc.

Pronouns such as ne/nem/nirs and xe/xem/xyrs are widely unrecognized by the public, and somewhat foriegn to a lot of people. These are called neopronouns. The term “neopronoun” refers to sets of pronouns that were made in the 20th century, sometimes the late 19th century. These pronouns aren’t traditionally used in any language, but are used for people who don’t follow the basic gender/agender pronouns (she, he, they). These pronouns exist because English is a gender-specific language, so these pronouns tend to be gender neutral, though some can be specific to a trans person or nonbinary person. 

Recognizing all pronouns as valid is extremely important because people that use neopronouns often don’t receive the validation they deserve.

Respecting the pronouns of someone means more than a cisgendered person could know. They feel understood and that they belong when someone uses their preferred pronouns, and the opposite can be said when someone deliberately uses incorrect pronouns for them. Putting yourself in the shoes of a person transitioning or using different pronouns, it would be frustrating to be called something that you’re not all the time.

Alleviating this pain and breaking down the stigma of “unorthodox” pronouns is simple and straightforward — respect everyone’s preferred pronouns and make your pronouns aware to the people around you, whether that’s through greeting someone new or putting them in your social media bios and Webex names.