The University of Kent in the United Kingdom has put out an interesting request to its students, faculty, and staff.
They now recommend that all those individuals rely on gender-neutral pronouns when referring to anyone on university grounds.
Fox News reports that this is the same university that warned against Christian-centric language, and now they are actively encouraging people to use pronouns such as ze and fae.
The University of Kent released a guide to pronoun usage that claims: Sex does not predetermine a persons gender, however, and this assignment may conflict with the persons gender identity - their internal sense of their own gender and what feels right for them.
The guide suggested that the proper use of pronouns is a matter of human dignity. It points out that gender-neutral pronoun usage is increasingly common and should be considered when speaking to anyone on campus grounds. This is a dramatic divergence from what anyone in the United States is familiar with, and some are concerned about the possibility of this kind of thing creeping into our colleges and universities.
The guide at the University of Kent explained: Its not always possible to know someones gender identity solely based on appearance, so we should be careful not to make assumptions about a persons pronouns from their appearance, voice, or characteristics.
This guide also offers tips on what to do in various scenarios when someones gender identity may not be known. It says that in meetings, particularly when hosting or meeting others for the first time, you could state your pronouns when introducing yourself. Not only will this encourage colleagues to do the same, but it will normalize the practice, which will help trans, non-binary, and gender-non-conforming people feel more comfortable to do the same.
This is a way to know which pronouns everyone in the meeting would like to be referred to. However, some suggest that this is also a time-consuming process that might not be necessary to make the meeting as appropriate. Many people feel this is overly accommodating of a very small section of the population that prefers to go by a pronoun other than he or she. Its certainly something that has some people up in arms since they might have to make dramatic changes to how they host meetings.
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