By Sierra Barrios, Focus Editor
History shows us how unforgiving the world can be, especially for members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Let’s become a more compassionate society and create a gender-inclusive culture in the U.S.: let’s normalize pronoun usage.
Pronouns are one way people establish their gender identity. This applies to both cisgender, people, who identify with the sex they were assigned at birth, and non-cisgender people.
Using someone’s desired pronouns is a form of showing respect and empathy. The first time my friend changed her pronouns to he/she/they, I saw an awe-inspiring freedom on their face. Using their pronouns made them feel stronger and empowered, which everyone deserves to experience.
We can begin including pronouns by inserting them in our social media bios. As we return to in-person interaction, we can introduce our pronouns with our name, too. It only takes five seconds to say “my name is Sierra and my pronouns are she/her.”
Small actions like updating our bios start a conversation and spread awareness. Many people are unaware of the importance of pronouns, so we can educate our community by example. Introducing pronoun usage locally is the first step towards normalizing pronouns everywhere.
Some disagree that people can choose their pronouns. Regardless, gender is still a social construct that society can reform, while sex refers to your physical characteristics. Some cisgender people don’t see a reason to include pronouns in their daily life, but doing so helps establish cisgender people as allies.
When you see someone’s wallet on the floor, you might say, “Oh, someone left their wallet here! I should return it to them.” We naturally use they/them pronouns when gender is unknown. We choose to use different pronouns when we recognize appearances, but can also change our response to something more respectful. Inclusivity shouldn’t be controversial, it should be basic ethics.
As society progresses, our language needs to progress too. We must respect people’s pronouns and ally with non-cisgender individuals everywhere we can. Pronouns are not inconvenient—they’re essential.