Sharing your pronouns shows soldiarity with the non-binary and transgender communities.
More and more people are publically sharing their pronouns on their social media accounts.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (he/him), Jameela Jamil (she/her), Monica Lewinsky (she/her) and Liv Hewson (they/them) all list their pronouns.
Pronouns are words that can be used in place of a name to refer to someone. E.g. “she is campaigning”, “he voted”, “they were elected”.
These are often (but not always) based on the gender of the person they’re referring to. As gender is an innate feeling, it is not externally visible so it’s not always obvious which pronouns to use. People may dress or act in a way specific to their gender which makes it easier to guess, but these guesses aren’t necessarily correct.
This is particularly important for transgender people (whose gender identity does not match the one they were assigned at birth) and non-binary people (who don’t identify as either a man or a woman).
Using the correct pronoun to refer to someone shows respect and acknowledges their gender. It’s a basic act of manners like making sure to pronounce someone’s name correctly.
Many people who are not transgender (known as cisgender) choose to share their pronouns to show solidarity with this marginalised community.
This normalises the process and allows transgender and non-binary people to specify their pronouns without revealing themselves to be transgender or non-binary, which isn’t always safe.
Some cisgender people also choose to use a pronoun that does not match their assigned birth gender. This may be done for political reasons, like supporting gender equality, or simply because they prefer another pronoun.
When it comes to pronouns there is only one important rule to follow: ask don’t assume. It’s not possible to know someone’s pronouns without them telling you.
Until a pronoun is specified, it’s best to use gender-neutral pronouns or ask the person what pronouns they use. To make this easier, some people wear badges giving their pronouns.
Despite the lack of UK MPs listing their pronouns on their social media accounts, it’s not unusual for politicians to include their pronouns in online profiles.
American presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren, Julian Castro and Bill de Blasio have their pronouns listed. American congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also includes “she/her” in her Twitter profile.
At an LGBT+ event hosted by Pink News, some UK politicians publicly shared their pronouns. Conservative MP, Penny Mordaunt, gave her pronouns as “she”. Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, gave his pronouns as “he/him”.
Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, introduced himself with the pronouns “he/him”. Unfortunately, none of the politicians who shared their pronouns went on to add them to their online bios.
Jeremy Corbyn also gave “Jeremy” or “Jezza” as alternative pronouns. Some people prefer to use their name or a shortened form of their name instead of pronouns, particularly when none of the common pronoun options feel right to someone or if their gender identity is fluid so their pronoun often changes.
As well as offering personal support, MPs have the power to reduce systemic barriers for transgender people.
The Liberal Democrats, Labour and Green Party manifestos for the 2019 general election contained plans to reform the Gender Recognition Act to allow self-identification. The Liberal Democrats also wanted to legally recognise non-binary people.
As well as continuing to fight for these promises to the transgender community, hopefully, some of the newly elected MPs will decide to show solidarity with the transgender community and add their pronouns to their social media.
Kim Barrett (they/them) is a freelance writer from Oxford, and tweets here.
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17 Responses to “More politicians should share their pronouns on social media”
Michael McManus
Kim.
You’ve had a largely dismissive response but I wonder what your thoughts would be on this idea that’s been floating around for a while.
Suppose we propose that our bodies are separate from our intrinsic selves and regard them as we would any other feature of our environment. No philosopher, theologian or neurologist has ever provided a convincing explanation for our consciousness of self, our sense of personhood, how with every cell in our bodies replaced continually, we are certain that we are the same person who was once in a cradle.That we are affected to some debateable degree by upbringing, experience and social/psychological milieu is beyond doubt: the external environment. But what if our bodies and brains are inhabited by our selves, since we don’t seem to be epiphenomena of our genetic or cerebral make up. Could we hold the idea that we inhabit an internal environment – brain and body?
I wonder if such a notion could bring diverse viewpoints into harmony or is it too weird? Could we agree that we are intrinsically asexual but that our physicality, our bodies and brains, drives us on one or other of several directions? Would this help people with all-female physicality and people with ambiguous physicality come to some accommodation over the disputed areas like sports and the more important one of child-rearing?
Dave Roberts
Mick MacManus, and I hope yee don’t mind if I refer to yerself as a qeer feller. What a load of shite?
Michael McManus
Thank you Dave, cheered me up no end to meet what they used in the old days to call a natural. Spelling in need of improvement and I do realise the proposal I put would be beyond the grasp of all but exceptional intellects. I do think we are all equal in just about everything, including intelligence, but handicapped by the varied quality of our internal environment – our bodies and brains.
How about an example from real life? A tragic one.
The French boy aged 6 who was thrown from the Tate Modern last August.
He’s totally paralysed with most of his bones splinted, unable to speak, move, eat or even swallow a bit of yogurt. He’s in pain and distress much of the time but cannot express it. God knows what he thinks has happened to him.
However – his parents read stories to him which he seems to understand and enjoy. In other words, despite the shattered body and the damaged brain through bleeding, he’s still in there and may one day get some control over his physical prison and speak. There’s more to what we are as persons than what most of us think most of the time.
I know all this because there’s a GoFundMe page with regular updates from the family.
Think about it. Not all us Irish gits is crazy as a shithouse rat.
Francis McGonigal
“Using the correct pronoun to refer to someone shows respect and acknowledges their gender. It’s a basic act of manners like making sure to pronounce someone’s name correctly.”
That is true but why used gender-based pronouns at all? In many cases the person’s gender is not relevant (we may not even know it) but there is no good alternative to “he” or “she”. The obvious choice is “they” but that can also be used as the plural.
ExLabour
“…gender is an innate feeling” . A dismal grasp of science there I’m afraid. Yes there some medical conditions which can affect gender but generally nature sorts things out chromosome wise.
Am I the only one who is sick of all this trivial woke garbage ? Quiet frankly I don’t care if a person wants to be a different gender its up to them – a personal choice, but please stop kidding yourself that other people care and that it is important to anyone other than some of the LGBT people..