Pronouns in email signature

A few folk in my work do this. I'm tempted to put

Pronouns - as expected.

Though I like "sex based, like my oppression"

I've received emails from people whose done this. It's a very high expectation to assume i will recall everyone's individual preferences.

Most of this pronoun bullshit is half arsed anyway.

If you really want to stand out from the crowd insist that speakers comply with the idiosyncratic grammar appropriate to your pronouns.

‘Xe has gone to the photocopier’ is just a simple substitution of ‘Xe’ for ‘he’ or ‘she’ but why not insist on tortuous grammar so that the subject comes at the middle of a sentence as it would in some languages, eg ‘The photocopier, Xe has gone to’? Make sure they do it in a Yoda voice.

Or insist that when somebody addresses you in public they distinguish between an inclusive ‘you’ (eg it includes the other people in the room) or an exclusive ‘you’ that refers to you alone. (We do this in Liverpool where we often use ‘yous’ for inclusivity.)

I had a little chuckle when I saw this on someone's Twitter bio.

Pronouns: get/tae/fxxk

Always

Or turn it into one of those NM ticker tapes that everyone takes the piss out of on here.

I’d ask whether everyone should add other personal information to their signature, like whether there is a history of insanity in their family, or if they have ever suffered from erectile dysfunction.

People like that Lola just can't come to terms that they're living the most conventional life possible!

I saw a very apt term for people like this, which someone on Twitter was using: “the under-deprived”.

can anyone suggest a good neutral way to answer if asked why I don't?

I don't like to be prescriptive, it's very controlling.

The cynic in me wonders whether, for those that perform this wokeness, it's a means of creating new projects for themselves and ensuring that the endless make-work that consumes so much time and resource in universities continues.

Many happy hours to be spent auditing take up, numbers, making a rainbow coloured pie chart, creating a power chart presentation...

As has been said above, it's performative wokeness.

If it's coming from that insidious place then, if the policy came into force I would put:

Pronouns: aligned with my sex

I have to contact colleagues all over the world and half the time, I have no idea if they're male or female. It's not usually relevant - what is relevant is their ability to go and check something in a datacentre thousands of miles away from me.

The last mail I sent where I had been saying, "he said that..." I changed to names, because on rereading before I sent it, I realised there were too many people to whom "he" could have applied, and it wasn't clear enough.

I imagine if they tried this at work, half the first language English speakers would first need to have the term "pronoun" explained, let alone why they are expected to tell people about them. I would probably make some point about women in STEM already experiencing quite enough sex-based challenges without having to insist on people saying "she, her, hers." Though I do point out stuff like I am not "sir" and "Dear Gents" on an email is unconscious exclusion..

Think I might try 'your Majesty' (which at least has the merit of being gender neutral).

I would say “what for?” And then again “what for?” When they blunder over “so everyone knows what your pronouns are”, “what for?” “Why does anyone need to know that?”

People like that Lola just can't come to terms that they're living the most conventional life possible!

Same with Miley Cyrus. She an attractive straight white woman who married a handsome straight white man but apparently a big part of her identity is being queer.

But surely only someone whose pronouns don't align with their sex would need to do this?

You would think that, wouldn't you? But no. Everyone that I have seen do this at work is obviously female, and stating that their pronouns are she / her. As has been said above, it's performative wokeness.

That's my thinking origami. It's surely bloody obvious that if my email says that my name is Jane Green that I'm a 'she'. Do people really need me to put 'she/her/hers' in my signature? Load of nonsense.

I think of myself as 'I' or 'me' and my pronouns are mine!

I see it on Twitter a lot too - pronouns in the bio. It’s such a surprise when I see a profile picture of a man followed by he/him, and a woman followed by she/her.Thank youfor pointing out the bleeding obvious, but have a cookie for showing everyone what a fabulous ally you are

The best one I saw lately was a female presenting woman clearly in a relationship with a male presenting man with a Twitter bio like 'queer pansexual femme my pronouns: she/her'

So woman marries man and uses female pronouns. Right on.

Usually people add a line to their signature as follows:

pronouns: she / her

But surely only someone whose pronouns don't align with their sex would need to do this? I can see it would be a good thing as company policy to allow people who feel they need this to add it to their email signature (to avoid people using pronouns that upset them), but why does someone whose pronouns align with their sex need to do this?

I think my response would be to say that you support the company in having this as an optional addition to the company email signature. The analogy I would use would be that it should be the same policy whereby people are allowed put their qualifications/professional membership in their email signature, but there is no obligation for those without qualifications to put "Lisa Smith, No Tertiary Qualifications"

Lucky you, legolimb - it's all over the place in universities, along with rainbow lanyards. Though it's coming more from the professional services staff rather than the frontline staff (by which I mean the academics and also people like the porters, estates staff, etc.). The cynic in me wonders whether, for those that perform this wokeness, it's a means of creating new projects for themselves and ensuring that the endless make-work that consumes so much time and resource in universities continues.

Just do your signature like this:

Best regards
LangCleg
Pronouns: any

I think I would email them (probably publically if I felt brave enough - e.g., cc'ing the whole department) and ask them what assessment had been done on the impact of this on unconscious bias and stereotype threat. Both of these are heightened when there is an focus on characteristics that are the basis of discrimination.

If this happens in my workplace I might put they/them and then kick up a stink when people get it wrong, just to be annoying.

I haven't seen this anywhere yet.

Seems ridiculous and I necessary.

You could come up with something utterly inane like 'fringle bopbop' or 'schnee' then get visibly upset when they say you can't use it and say you're being erased.