Why share gender pronouns when introducing yourself and on nametags when getting to know one another?

Pronouns are words that are used to replace names. Examples are she/her/hers, he/him/his, or they/them/theirs. Example – Edward parked his bike over there.

Because a person’s gender identity, and another person’s perception of their gender based on appearance, do not always match, it is important to learn from a person which gender pronouns they identify with and would like to be used to refer to them.

Because gender can be very important to a person’s sense of self, to misgender someone by using pronouns other than the ones they choose for themselves can feel disrespectful, alienating and invalidating.

Thus, including gender pronouns with name introductions and on nametags helps everyone be clear from the very beginning how a person wishes to be referred to.

In the dominant gender binary conditioning of Western civilization, people are labeled either male or female. However, gender exists on a spectrum. Many people historically and today do not identify as male or female. (For example, Two-spirits exist in many Native American cultures.) People may identify as non-binary, gender fluid, or genderqueer – or their gender identity may be different from the sex assigned to them at birth; this is the meaning of transgender.

In dominant culture, cisgender identity – i.e., same gender identity as sex assigned at birth – has been normalized and carries a privilege, while people who do not conform to the gender binary have faced a lot of discrimination.

When everyone shares gender pronouns during introductions, this shifts the burden of responsibility from already marginalized people, for whom identifying themselves can be quite vulnerable. For this reason, everyone sharing gender pronouns can be an important act of solidarity.

There is one more option; some people prefer that no gender pronouns be used for them, and that only their name be used.  Example: Edward parked Edward’s bike over there.

We ask you to join this community in identifying which gender pronouns you would like people to refer to you with.