Gender-Neutral Pronouns: Undoing Gender or Embracing Gender Pluralism?

• In Event: 1163 - Gender in Cultural Contexts

Abstract

Increasingly, organizations encourage people to include preferred pronouns on email signatures and name tags, and people are asked—via “gender checks”—to specify their “preferred gender pronouns.” These practices affirm that not everyone identifies as he/him or she/her, while also signaling that gender identity is not always readily discernible to outsiders. Yet, encouraging people to announce their preferred gender pronouns highlights gender in social interactions, potentially enabling gender-based discrimination. Alternatively, replacing gendered pronouns with gender-neutral ones for everyone reduces the visibility of specific gender identities in everyday interaction, potentially mitigating discrimination against those associated with subordinated genders—including women and nonbinary people. Drawing on in-depth interviews with leading feminist, LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and more), and conservative activists, this paper elucidates the stakes of pronoun usage by examining why activists care about pronouns and what activists hope various new pronoun practices will achieve. All of our respondents emphasize the importance of treating others with respect, a principle that dictate a policy of using people’s preferred or affirming pronouns for the feminist and LGBTQ+—but not necessarily conservative—activists. Moreover, while the feminist and LGBTQ+ activists we interviewed typically are sensitive to the importance of not assuming gender and of affirming others’ identities, they generally have thought less about how cuing gender—on email or through “gender checks”—can make gender more salient and reinforce gender inequality. Finally, we find the way in which feminist and LGBTQ+ activists discuss this issue depends on whether they frame it as primarily a transgender inclusion or feminist issue. We discuss possible explanations for these findings.

Authors

• Abigail C. Saguy, University of California-Los Angeles

• Juliet A. Williams, UCLA