By Kanika Jain
Merriam-Webster recognized ‘they’ as its 2019 Word of the Year based on the number of dictionary lookups, and introduced the gender-neutral honorific ‘Mx.’ to their unabridged dictionary. Singular ‘they’ was added to its online dictionary in September of 2019, with the definition - ‘used to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary (does not conform as either male or female)’ added to the previous description.
A landmark achievement in the recognition and acceptance of non-binary identities in our society; this was long overdue.
Acknowledgement of genders beyond the binary and the fluidity of gender expression is becoming increasingly normalized with multiple people including their pronouns in public-facing identifications such as email signatures, Twitter bios, and conference name-tags. For many, recognition of gender neutrality is another righteous fruit of the modern era. For others, it has been the culmination of a long-drawn battle spanning decades. On March 27 2017, Time magazine’s cover page read: ‘Beyond He or She’. In June 2017, the District of Colombia’s residents became the first people in the United States to be able to choose X as their gender marker instead of male or female on driver’s licenses and identification cards. This year, on June 30, 2021, the State Department announced that it will be updating its procedures to allow applicants to self-select their gender marker for passports and that it “will no longer require medical certification” if an applicant’s self-selected gender marker does not match the gender listed on other official identity documents. Recently, popular singers Sam Smith and Demi Lovato publicly came out as nonbinary, and stated that they should be referred to using 'they/them' pronouns.
To understand the concept of gender fluidity and the significance of commonly recognized gender neutral pronouns, one needs to understand the difference between the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’, which are neither the same nor interchangeable. Sex is a biological characteristic based on chromosomal factors and sex characteristics such as genitals. Body parts don’t dictate gender. Gender is a social construct and refers to how an individual perceives themselves, navigates the world through identity (pronouns, names, etc.), their dressing style, and mannerisms (feminine, masculine). While some people identify with binary identities (male or female), some individuals identify as both or neither. Genderqueer individuals may experience identity in a way that does not exclusively conform to the concepts of masculine or feminine, while gender-fluid people may experience their gender as ever-shifting rather than being static.
Pronouns are the words used by others to address someone in place of their proper name. Common examples include he/him/his, she/her/hers, and they/them/theirs. Pronouns often reflect society’s perception of one’s gender. Many people are cisgender (cis means “on the same side as”); that is, their gender aligns with the sex assigned to them at birth. For example, a cis-female is someone whose self-identified female gender is the same as her birth-assigned female sex. Hence, cisgender individuals do not have to think twice about how others refer to them. However, for people who are transgender (trans means “on the opposite side of”) or genderfluid, their gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth, and pronouns are a reflection of their identity in society.
Gender neutral pronouns like ‘they/them/their’ can be adopted by transgender, genderqueer, or genderfluid individuals. Examples of the singular ‘they’ being used to describe someone whose gender is not known dates back as early as 1386 in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales and Shakespeare's Hamlet in 1599. However, what makes the singular ‘they’ special in modern use is that it is now accepted as a pronoun of choice for someone who does not identify as either male or female intentionally (of note, not every nonbinary person may use they/them or otherwise ‘nontraditional’ pronouns). Perhaps not unexpectedly, some traditionalists in the field of language are not fully on board with this idea. Although the Chicago Manual of Style (one of the most esteemed style guides in use at US academic institutions) acknowledges the use of they/them as an individual’s chosen pronouns, it is still hesitant to accept their use in formal writing.
Historically, there have been multiple attempts to find and recognize gender-neutral pronouns for the English language. From thon, ip, and hiser to hem, ons, and lers, these discarded terms have piled up since the mid-19th century. Pronouns ne, nis, nir, and hiser were proposed and briefly used around 1850. Thon was coined by the Philadelphia lawyer and hymn writer Charles Crozat Converse in 1884. Unlike most epicene (of indeterminate sex) pronouns, thon was recognized and accepted by two major dictionaries and adopted by a few writers (Thon - a blend of that and one). Soon after, in 1886 a writer in the New York Evening Post offered his-her as ‘a hermaphrodite pronoun’. In 1890, a report in the Rocky Mountain News recommended hi, hes, hem, none of which saw widespread use afterward. And so, the saga has continued into the present. Variants like xie/xir/xem or ey/em/eir have been in use by some people. Acceptance of singular ‘they’ by Merriam-Webster is therefore an important milestone even in the evolution of the English language.
At the dawn of the 19th century, the search for gender-neutral pronouns became pertinent to the women’s suffrage movement. ‘He’ had been in circulation as the gender-neutral pronoun of choice since 1745. Words like ‘mankind’ and ‘citizen’ were meant to imply ‘everyone’. However, the reality, as per law, hit everyone after the Civil War. The language of the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted citizenship and voting rights to the newly freed slaves, defined voters as ‘males over 21’, stripping black women of any voting rights until 1920. In 1872, Susan B. Anthony and fifty other women were jailed for registering to vote in Rochester. In response, Ms. Anthony took to lecture halls to create awareness about the lack of ‘she/her/hers’ in the tax and criminal laws. She pointed out ‘I insist if government officials may thus manipulate the pronouns to tax, fine, imprison, and hang women, women may take the same liberty with them to secure to themselves their right to a voice in the government’. Discounting her plea, Ms. Anthony was pronounced guilty by the court and lost the case. In 1869, Myra Bradwell, who, having passed the state bar examination, was refused a license because she was a woman, petitioned the Supreme Court of Illinois. Bradwell cited the state’s interpretation rule: “When any party or person is described or referred to by words importing the masculine gender, females as well as males shall be deemed to be included.” However, the Illinois court denied Ms. Bradwell’s petition, simply stating that the state’s interpretation rule did not apply.
Just like any language or legal laws, our socialized assumptions about appearance and gender identity also need to change and grow. Expectations for gender expression are often based on gender stereotypes like ‘girls wear skirts’. The validity or lack thereof of these stereotypes is something we are all navigating together, that is shifting to a mindset of, ‘just because someone wears a skirt does not mean they are a girl’. Physical appearance should not be the yardstick used to estimate a person’s pronouns. Asking about and correctly using the specified pronouns is pertinent to showing respect for them as a human being. When one is addressed with the incorrect pronouns, it can make them feel disrespected, invalidated, dismissed, alienated, or dysphoric, and often, all of the above. It is a privilege not to worry about the pronouns used by society to address you. If you share this privilege, yet fail to respect someone else’s gender identity, it may not only be disrespectful and hurtful, but oppressive.
And so, the question is, do we as a society still underestimate the importance of inclusive pronouns? Do we finally recognize their use as a symbol of equal rights for women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and any other demographic of the society? Have we learnt our lesson?
Unfortunately, when it comes to STEM fields, recent data shows that LGBTQ+ individuals are 17-21% less represented. According to a study conducted by the American Physical Society, approximately 15% LGBT men, 25% LGBT women and 30% gender-nonconforming individuals feel uncomfortable within their department. The study also revealed that trans- and gender-nonbinary individuals often face a hostile environment and exclusionary behavior at work. At Penn, a dated survey from all 12 schools indicated that only 3% of the faculty identify as LGBTQ+. These mortifying numbers are a call for each one of us to widen our understanding of gender-neutrality, and make our workplace a safe and inclusive environment for everyone. Change begins within!
