Show us you're Woke

[John]

We called someone Sonic at school, to the point where teachers also called him that as it seemed entirely innocent. If only they knew that it came about as he was found pleasuring himself with a Sonicare toothbrush.

Er, how? Asking for a friend.

[DeskJockey]

I will respect everyone's views, lifestyle choices etc so long as nobody is getting hurt.

So with that in mind, genuine question... what benefit to anyone is there by me putting my pronouns in a work email signature? For example...

It makes it common and normalises checking instead of assuming. To me it is no different to being polite and asking someone how to pronounce their name if you're not sure, so that you'll say it right in future.

As an example I've got one colleague who identifies as non-binary, has a male name, but female gender. Another colleague is female, but has a name that doesn't give you any indication whether she is a he/she/they. Helps everybody by having it clearly in the signature. We also have the option of adding name pronunciation which some use.

Thanks for the explanation. I guess Im looking at this selfishly from my point of view where like you say, I'll ask someone how to pronounce their name when I first meet them. But very rarely will I have to refer to someone by their pronoun either in written or verbal communication. So yes, having pronouns in auto signatures would help in that scenario.

Whatever makes people feel happy & comfortable tbh.

I do feel a bit like Alan Partridge though when my brain tries to parse a comment like this... "...I've got one colleague who identifies as non-binary, has a male name, but female gender."

They didn't like the name they were given at birth, so changed it to one they liked. That happened to be a traditionally male name. Some cultures, like the Sikhs, have unisex names. I know two people called Jaswinder, one of each gender. For them it is perfectly normal. There's something similar in English except sometimes the spelling changes, e.g. Bobby/Bobbi.

[DeskJockey]

I will respect everyone's views, lifestyle choices etc so long as nobody is getting hurt.

So with that in mind, genuine question... what benefit to anyone is there by me putting my pronouns in a work email signature? For example...

It makes it common and normalises checking instead of assuming. To me it is no different to being polite and asking someone how to pronounce their name if you're not sure, so that you'll say it right in future.

As an example I've got one colleague who identifies as non-binary, has a male name, but female gender. Another colleague is female, but has a name that doesn't give you any indication whether she is a he/she/they. Helps everybody by having it clearly in the signature. We also have the option of adding name pronunciation which some use.

But to ask again - what's the point when you could just use their name?

Pronouns are generally used in the 3rd person - I DGAF what someone refers to me as in my absence. This is what I don't get about it.

Apparently Finnish doesn't have gendered pronouns at all, so they find all this rather odd. I know you're not Finnish Alex but do you know if that's true at all (you're the closest we've got AFAIK)?

The point is that they would like to be referred to as whatever pronoun they've chosen.

As for Finnish it is completely different to the languages I speak (related to Hungarian and Turkish). But from what I can read online it is a genderless language.

[Pete_]

I bought a hybrid before they were good.

[Ascender]

It makes it common and normalises checking instead of assuming. To me it is no different to being polite and asking someone how to pronounce their name if you're not sure, so that you'll say it right in future.

As an example I've got one colleague who identifies as non-binary, has a male name, but female gender. Another colleague is female, but has a name that doesn't give you any indication whether she is a he/she/they. Helps everybody by having it clearly in the signature. We also have the option of adding name pronunciation which some use.

Thanks for the explanation. I guess Im looking at this selfishly from my point of view where like you say, I'll ask someone how to pronounce their name when I first meet them. But very rarely will I have to refer to someone by their pronoun either in written or verbal communication. So yes, having pronouns in auto signatures would help in that scenario.

Whatever makes people feel happy & comfortable tbh.

I do feel a bit like Alan Partridge though when my brain tries to parse a comment like this... "...I've got one colleague who identifies as non-binary, has a male name, but female gender."

They didn't like the name they were given at birth, so changed it to one they liked. That happened to be a traditionally male name. Some cultures, like the Sikhs, have unisex names. I know two people called Jaswinder, one of each gender. For them it is perfectly normal. There's something similar in English except sometimes the spelling changes, e.g. Bobby/Bobbi.

Interesting! Thanks for taking the time to explain it.

[DeskJockey]

Thanks for the explanation. I guess Im looking at this selfishly from my point of view where like you say, I'll ask someone how to pronounce their name when I first meet them. But very rarely will I have to refer to someone by their pronoun either in written or verbal communication. So yes, having pronouns in auto signatures would help in that scenario.

Whatever makes people feel happy & comfortable tbh.

I do feel a bit like Alan Partridge though when my brain tries to parse a comment like this... "...I've got one colleague who identifies as non-binary, has a male name, but female gender."

They didn't like the name they were given at birth, so changed it to one they liked. That happened to be a traditionally male name. Some cultures, like the Sikhs, have unisex names. I know two people called Jaswinder, one of each gender. For them it is perfectly normal. There's something similar in English except sometimes the spelling changes, e.g. Bobby/Bobbi.

Interesting! Thanks for taking the time to explain it.

You're welcome.

[jamcg]

Just to further illustrate that point- I’m called Jordan Ashley. If I was born a girl I was going to be called Jordan Ashleigh. My parents were lazy

[Jobbo]

We called someone Sonic at school, to the point where teachers also called him that as it seemed entirely innocent. If only they knew that it came about as he was found pleasuring himself with a Sonicare toothbrush.

Er, how? Asking for a friend.

You probably don't need a urethra that clean, John.

[Jimmy Choo]

I had to ask someone at work what someone's pronouns were because I've only spoken to them on email and teams and I've never encountered anyone called Cyprien before.

[Broccers]

I've never encountered anyone called Cyprien before.

Nice name for a cyborg

[tim]

Just call everyone "mate". Problem solved.

[jamcg]

Just call everyone "cunt". Problem solved.