Pronouns Are...Personal!

Personal pronouns are, well, personal. In this post, I share my personal pronouns and a brief rationale as to why I use them.

I use the pronouns she/they.

My cis-gender (gender at birth) is female and I am wholly comfortable with this identity and with using the pronouns she/her/hers.

I also use the pronouns they/them/theirs. In fact, I really like the concept of these gender-neutral pronouns better because I believe they encourage gender diversity and fluidity in expression. Traditional gendered pronouns can feel restrictive, especially to those who may not feel like they fit neatly into traditional gender stereotypes. This article in Time Magazine speaks to this rising trend.

They/them are expansive in nature. To me, they symbolize a whole person and not just the gendered component of them. I believe I am more than a female. I am multi-dimensional and I view all people this way, too.

The English language is itself expansive as languages go. According to the BBC, English has approximately 171K+ actively-used words (as of 2018), dwarfing most other languages on the planet. Despite its impressive size, English does not (yet) have a widely-adopted singular gender-neutral pronoun, although Zhe (and other variations of this word) are starting to emerge as contenders.

So, for now, I use they/them.

The beauty of language is that it is a dynamic, ever-evolving human experiment. And, we are all participants. New words are added to the lexicon all the time just as others are dropped. My hope is that as a society, we continue to move forward in our never-ending quest for full diversity, equity and inclusion...and expression.

As we continue to make inroads, my hunch is that the new words and language will follow.