![]() ![]() In my mind, they are just another way in which gender is becoming increasingly blurred. Who knows? Maybe neopronouns will fade out again in the future, or maybe they’ll continue increasing in popularity. You are also not required to be aware of or know of everyone’s pronouns, nor their history- if you want to be sure, just ask! However, particularly amongst small communities and in safe spaces, respecting someone’s identity is a decent thing to do.ĭespite confusion and resistance, gender and language are constantly evolving. For example, no one expects to be called fae/faer at the office, or in the classroom (whether this is fair or not is another question). Here’s the thing though: most individuals that I’ve seen online and had conversations with don’t use neopronouns in everyday situations. You might dislike them because they feel unnatural, or perhaps like me, you’re scared of getting them wrong. I get it - neopronouns are new and scary, they might not even seem serious. It is possible to care about multiple issues at once. Having a discussion around neopronouns doesn’t mean we have to neglect everything else. Who knows? Maybe one-day using neopronouns will become just another diverse identity that we accept.Īnd before anybody brings it up, yes, there are bigger issues in society than pronouns- there’s always a bigger, more important issue. Lastly, the use of the third-person singular “they” has only recently come into the mainstream despite first appearing in the 1300s. Then, transgender individuals were often rejected by cis members of the community for being too “outside” of the box. In the past, bisexual people have been erased and their sexuality labeled a phase or indecisiveness. Why should gender-diverse individuals try to make themselves more palatable to gain acceptance?Īt this stage, it is worth pointing out that the idea that someone’s identity will reflect badly on the whole community is not new. However, whilst I empathize with the feeling that we as queer people should cater to the comfort of our largely hetero-cis-normative society, it is full of internalized transphobia. Particularly in a world where FTM/MTF transgender people are still struggling for recognition, some argue that neopronouns push members even more towards the fringe of society. ![]() Similarly, others feel like the emergence of neopronouns threatens the queer community. To that I pose the question- where does all language come from? For some, the disdain comes from the idea that neopronouns are “made up”. In fact, resistance comes from both within and outside the LGBTQ+ communities. Even online, they’re met with trolling and ridicule to the point it is sometimes difficult to discern who is truly a neopronoun user and who is merely mocking. Lastly, neopronouns have also been popular amongst neurodivergent communities who may experience gender differently, meaning they often don’t fall into the boxes we have created. It could also be the case that increasing awareness through social media is giving people the tools and knowledge to better identify themselves, rather than leading them to change innately. However, neopronouns are a unique way of exploring identities within and besides gender. ![]() I think people would still be identifying outside the binary without the likes of Instagram and Tiktok. So are they a Gen-Z, social media-driven phenomenon? In some ways, yes. They died off around 2014, but they are gaining traction once more due to the rise of Tiktok. In modern times, they can be traced back to the Tumblr era of the early 2010s. Likewise, noun-self pronouns are not new either. ![]() You might even be surprised to know that gender-neutral pronouns were once the norm! Of course, a large range of neopronouns have emerged since then, but the point is, language outside of the gender binary is not a 21st-century novelty. Gender non-conforming pronouns have been around since at least the 17th century. These often take the form xe/xem, ze/hir, or noun-self pronouns, which are “creative and often light-hearted experiment in gender expression”. Neopronouns refer to new pronouns that can be used in place of all of the above. For example, she/her, he/him and they/them. What are neopronouns?Īs we all know, pronouns replace names when talking about someone. Like a large proportion of Gen Z, I first came around the term “neopronoun” on TikTok, but as it turns out, identifying outside of the gender binary is really nothing new. Yet just when I thought I had gotten a solid handle on the singular use of “they” (seriously, it’s not that hard), a whole new set of pronouns-neopronouns-have emerged. In recent times, pronouns that indicate gender diverse and non-conforming identities have become increasingly popular and accepted. ![]()
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