Gender Identity and Pronouns | LGBTQ (2023)

FAQs

What is gender identity and pronouns? ›

Gender identity is each person's internal and individual sense of being a woman, a man, both, neither, or anywhere along the gender spectrum. Personal names and pronouns are two fundamental ways we express gender and how others perceive our gender.

While refusing to answer is certainly effective, an even better response might be: “My pronouns are grammatically and biologically correct.” Alternatively, for us older folks, there's always: “My pronouns are what they've been for the past 7+ decades.”

Pronouns commonly have a gendered association, however, anyone of any gender can use any pronouns that fit for them. Everyone has pronouns, not just transgender, nonbinary, or intersex people. Keep in mind that some people may use more than one set of pronouns to refer to themselves (e.g., 'she/her' and 'they/them').

Intentional refusal to use someone's correct pronouns is equivalent to harassment and a violation of one's civil rights. The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 expressly prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

Pronouns can be in the first person singular (I, me) or plural (we, us); second person singular or plural (you); and the third person singular (e.g., she/her, he/him, they/them, ze/hir) or plural (they/them). Gendered pronouns specifically reference someone's gender: he/him/his or she/her/hers.

Some examples of pronouns are I, he, him, you, we, him, her, yours, theirs, someone, where, when, yourselves, themselves, oneself, is, hers, when, whom, whose, each other, one another, everyone, nobody, none, each, anywhere, anyone, nothing, etc.

She, her, hers and he, him, his are the most commonly used pronouns. Some people call these "female/feminine" and "male/masculine" pronouns, but many avoid these labels because, for example, not everyone who uses he feels like a "male" or "masculine." There are also lots of gender-neutral pronouns in use.

So when a person includes their gender pronouns on their email signature line (or on a nametag, when introducing themselves, etc.), they are simply taking the guesswork away for you! It's their way of saying “when you refer to me using pronouns (opposed to by my name), these are the pronouns I'd like for you to use.”

Introduce yourself using pronouns!

It's really easy to incorporate pronouns into your introductions. For example, you could say, “Hey, I'm Schiller and I'm from Germany, I'm a senior English and Philosophy double major and I use he/him pronouns.”

The short answer is yes. There is nothing to prevent your employer asking employees to make voluntary pronoun declarations. However, speech rights are likely to be engaged when there is an element of compulsion.

What pronoun is gender neutral? ›

Gendered pronouns are those that indicate gender: he, she, him, her, hers, his, himself and herself. All others, like "it, "one," and "they," are gender-neutral. You probably already use some gender-neutral pronouns: they, their, and them.

Common pronouns include she/her/hers, he/him/his, and they/them/theirs. There are other nonbinary pronouns. It is important to ask people what their pronouns are. If you have questions, politely ask the person if they feel comfortable giving examples of how to use those pronouns.

What Can Employers Do About Employees Who Refuse To Refer To Transgendered Employees By Their Preferred Names Or Pronouns? The short answer is, private sector employers can very likely terminate the employee.

Somebody coined pronouns because they felt a word was missing from English,” he said. “A few of the words made it into dictionaries. None of them ever achieved widespread use. “One word that seems to be filling the gap is the singular 'they,'” he said.

You may have noticed that many people are sharing their pronouns in conversations, introductions, bios, and email signatures. The reason this is happening is to make spaces more inclusive to transgender (trans), gender noncomforming, and non-binary people.

Addressing someone by the wrong name or misgendering them, by using incorrect pronouns, can feel disrespectful, harmful, and even threatening to a gender-diverse person. Misgendering results in marginalization and communicates that a person's identity is not seen as important.

There are seven types of pronouns that both English and English as a second language writers must recognize: the personal pronoun, the demonstrative pronoun, the interrogative pronoun, the relative pronoun, the indefinite pronoun, the reflexive pronoun, and the intensive pronoun.

Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, expressions and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and gender diverse people. It influences how people perceive themselves and each other, how they act and interact, and the distribution of power and resources in society.

She, her, hers and he, him, his are common and more familiar pronouns. Some people call these “female/feminine” and “male/masculine” pronouns, but many avoid these labels because, for example, not everyone who uses he feels like a “male” or “masculine”.

RULE: Pronouns have three cases: nominative (I, you, he, she, it, they), possessive (my, your, his, her, their), and objective (me, him, her, him, us, them). Use the nominative case when the pronoun is the subject of your sentence, and remember the rule of manners: always put the other person's name first!

What are 10 common pronouns? ›

Common pronouns are he, she, you, me, I, we, us, this, them, that. A pronoun can act as a subject, direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, and more and takes the place of any person, place, animal or thing.

But she says it was from the 18th century onwards that people started using male pronouns when describing someone of a non-specific gender in writing and this marks the time when opinions on what pronouns should be used started to change.

No, a name is not a pronoun. A name is a noun, and specifically, it is a proper noun. Proper nouns are capitalized, whereas common nouns are not. A pronoun would be a word used to take the place of a name, or of another noun.

language note: We is the first person plural pronoun. We is used as the subject of a verb. 1. pronoun. A speaker or writer uses we to refer both to himself or herself and to one or more other people as a group.

Are they even necessary? The short answer is, yes. The correct use of pronouns is a powerful way to foster a sense of belonging both in and outside of work. Learn the history of gender-neutral pronouns, why they're so important, and how to be mindful in your everyday language.

That said, an employer can prohibit workers from including their pronouns in their email signatures, but only if the policy is enforced consistently across the company. "The company can say company policy is that emails do not have identifier attached to them.

Someone who uses she/they pronouns may identify as both being a woman and nonbinary. Or, they could be genderfluid, genderqueer, bigender, or another identity. (For more, check out A Guide to Genderqueer, Non-Binary, and Genderfluid Identity from Psychology Today.)

Gender identity is your deeply-held inner feelings of whether you're female or male, both, or neither. Your gender identity isn't seen by others. Gender identity may be the same as the sex you were assigned at birth (cisgender) or not (transgender). Some people identify as a man (or a boy) or a woman (or a girl).

But she says it was from the 18th century onwards that people started using male pronouns when describing someone of a non-specific gender in writing and this marks the time when opinions on what pronouns should be used started to change.