this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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Neopronouns are not trolling (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

I've been waiting until after Christmas day to make this post, but some of our communities recently have had a lot of noise and upset over someone that uses neopronouns that most people are unfamiliar with.

So I want to make this clear. A persons pronouns are to be respected. This is true when the user is using neopronouns that you're unfamiliar with. It's true even if you think someone is trolling. Pronouns are not rewards for good behaviour. They aren't only to be respected when you like the person you're interacting with, or if their pronouns "make sense" to you. Trolls, spammers, twitter users, it doesn't matter who they are, your options are to respect their pronouns, or to not engage with them.

I really want to re-iterate the importance of this. Gender diverse folk are undermined, invalidated and questioned at every step of our lives. As a community, we need to be working to undo that, not creating more of it, and that means there is no space for treating pronouns (including neopronouns) as a reward for good behaviour.

This isn't a free reign for trolls and spammers. The rules still apply. Trolling, spamming, etc will continue to be dealt with, but it's not an excuse to act as if respecting someones pronouns is optional.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (17 children)

For everyone confused about neopronouns I would like you to consider what we could and could not do about them.

We could:

  1. Not respect them and let people bully neopronoun users
  2. Respect them and not let people bully neopronoun users

Doesn't really matter if you want to use the pronouns or not, clearly respecting neopronouns is the only good way to deal with the situation unless you want to give people free reign to just talk down to, misgender, and harass a group of users.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

What's a neo pronoun? Is it the same as pronouns?

[–] [email protected] -5 points 2 weeks ago

It's a new pronoun.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neopronoun

Tldr

Pronouns: he/him/himself

Neo pronouns: zir/zirs/zirself

Noun-self pronouns: Kitten/Kittenself

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

Lots of people in here who don't get pronouns or trans people, for those I recommend this article:

https://medium.com/@viridiangrail/so-you-found-out-youre-agender-because-you-don-t-understand-trans-people-886fdee6f178

There's a very real chance you guys might be agender cis, which is super fascinating because it's barely looked into, due to how agender cis people usually don't even know that their experience isn't universal.

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[–] [email protected] -3 points 2 weeks ago
[–] [email protected] 50 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

My only concern is that people (or one person in particular) aren't genuine, but are doing to to discredit trans people, and the concept of gender fluidity in general. Kind of an extension of the "one joke" conservatives have ("hurr durr, I identify as an attack helicopter").

Obviously I can't say for sure that's what is happening, but I've read some of their comments that set off some red flags for me that maybe this person isn't being genuine.

I personally err on the side of caution, so I'd never purposely insult this person by calling them "him" or "her," but they'll remain a "they" to me, as that is still gender-agnostic not offensive to someone with "neopronouns" (as far as I understand it).

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 weeks ago (17 children)

It doesn't really matter what you think about the person, the point is to take their word for it. If making people accept neopronouns is trolling then it's not a bad thing and I am personally not upset by it. If that did somehow "discredit" me I would argue that it only reflects badly on those who think my acceptance of it is bad, they are using it as a weak excuse to attack me.

Using they may be considered misgendering if you know that that person doesn't also go by they, neo-pronouns or otherwise.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 weeks ago

I know a few neopronoun users and some are fine with they/them, some are just worn down into accepting they/them, and some really do not like they/them

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