Lauren DeMarser
Professor Peeples
Intro into Academic Writing
11/8/23
Blog Post 2
Should younger generations be aware of gender pronouns?
The reasoning behind why pronouns are controversial is because people believe there only to be two genders which makes pronouns difficult for them to understand or be respectable of those who go by the pronouns. On the other hand, to those who do go by pronouns, it is controversial on their part because anyone who wants to be respected, when people don’t understand or don’t call the individual by the right pronouns there’s instances of them becoming upset or feeling disrespected. These two opinions are held by many and since the use of pronouns is fairly new, it’s less understood and less tolerated. While I only actually know the basic she/her, they/them, he/his, there are actually now 78 pronouns used by both male and female.
From the entire LGBTQ community in the United States, only 25% use pronouns. This is according to an article written in 2022 in the Wall Street Journal titled “When asked ‘what are your pronouns’, don’t answer”. For that article, 40,000 LGBTQ youth were questioned and only 25% say they use pronouns. We have to ask why – are they not comfortable with identifying this way, is it too new or too much of a stigma?
Growing up, I attended Catholic private schools and I have been doing so for my whole life. Pronouns were never conversant with or familiar to me until I got into my sophomore year of high school. At that time, it was confusing at first because addressing someone by his or her pronoun was so new to me. My highschool supported gender pronouns and I have since
discovered most schools accept and embrace this practice. In the beginning, though, it was odd and uncomfortable but that soon passed and I accepted it.
When it comes to my view on pronouns, I have a strong belief that we live in a free country and we have freedom of speech for a reason – it’s literally in the United States Constitution. Because of this freedom of speech, it’s unrealistic for pronouns to be restricted or forbidden. As someone who grew up unfamiliar with the use of pronouns and taught that there was believed to be only two genders, I believe that to have been for the best. While I don’t think the use of gender pronouns will sway a child one way or the other, I don’t think young or middle school aged children, should be exposed to multiple genders at such a young age because I do think it could make them confused.
However, I do believe that the right age to become aware of pronouns is middle school where new things are introduced and you are starting to become older and able to comprehend differences better. I believe that since it’s a free country and we have the right of free speech, if you want to be associated with, or identified by pronouns, it is your choice to do so and that should not be questioned or taken away from the individual.
According to the Radical Copy Editor, there has been an update to certain pronouns and in this article it happens to be “they”. Alex Kapitan who wrote the article titled “Update to transgender style guide “They” as a personal pronoun” noted that there is nothing incorrect about using
singularly.
Interestingly, when I toured colleges last year, many of the tour guides asked me to say what pronoun I identify with. Because I am not used to being asked that question, I was surprised but thought it was fine just to answer the question. The biggest issue today is that this is so new, and so many older individuals don’t want to, or won’t change to meet the current times. Those who identify by these pronouns need to also adjust, even in a small way. I recently saw a video of a police officer who pulled over a female drunk driver. That driver insisted to be identified as they/them and the officer was so flustered trying to remember to do so, that it was distracting to him and to the most important issue, the drunk driver. The female drunk driver was so upset they/them weren’t being addressed properly, it added stress to a very stressful situation and as a result, the driver felt completely disrespected, and the officer felt very stressed. So I think it’s okay to use pronouns but there has to be a line of flexibility with those who require the use of those pronouns.
While this is a relatively new concept of pronouns like they/them, she/her and 76 more, I support those who want to be identified that way and I am hopeful I can adjust to continued changes like this in my future. The 75% of the LGBTQ community not using pronouns will hopefully feel more secure in doing so in the future, and hopefully those who won’t embrace this, will soon because it has nothing to do with and is not a reflection of those individuals who won’t embrace this change.