Pronouns: What they are and why they matter

[martinpospisil]

Ohio State Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Lol. Is this Orwell?

[Darth]

I have a couple of issues with this presentation.

1. The use of singular they/them: It is true that singular they/them is used in the examples you listed (Someone must have dropped "their" phone). However, just because you don't know someone's gender, doesn't mean that person doesn't have a gender, or that they even identify as non-binary. Singular they/them is only used in instances when you're referring to someone, but you don't know who the person is, or you're referring to a hypothetical person where the gender of the person is irrelevant or non specified.

2. At no point in your presentation did you express why I should go along with someone's pronoun. In other words, what is the objective standard of being non-binary? When someone comes out as non-binary, how does that person know they are as such? If being non-binary comes down to a "feeling, " and there is no objective standard, wouldn't I have the same authority to call someone "she" if I felt they were a woman and "he" if I felt they were a man? If someone can get such hurt feelings because I refuse to use the pronoun they ask me to, am I really the problem? We don't tell someone who is schizophrenic that their hallucinations are real. We don't tell people who are suicidal that committing suicide is the best thing for their health. Why should I go along with someone's delusion?

[sarahhumphreys]

The only he who i will call she is the leader of the CCP.

[margaretpaine]

Older people won't remember, perhaps. Confusing and English is already confusing. I don't see kids learning this. Or rural areas. I define myself Whoops in alanon I called myself an it.

[tanyab]

Hello, folks!
First of all - absolutely love your video - it’s very educating and detailed!

Me and my colleagues recently had a chat about us being confused of the topic discussed above.
How willing could you possibly be to have a Zoom chat with us about pronouns ? :)
We work for railway company in UK :) 🇬🇧

I could have a word with our management about the logistics if You would have time :)

[margaretpaine]

Too confusing for the general public. Original pronoun was it. I prefer to not do pronouns as it sets up more judgment. This will be a temporary local dialect group preference. Most people will not use this in the wider public. I was offended when I was told I was being disrespectful if I was supposed to use these pronouns