I spotted a preferred pronouns badge in the wild

Also, as a language geek, I am infuriated by how culturally blind this is. Others have highlighted how many language don’t used second person gendered pronouns for humans, but what about Arabic? In Arabic, you conjugate pretty much everything you say depending on the sex of the person you’re speaking to.

You couldn’t even start the conversation to find out what someone’s pronouns are.

“Ma ismak?” (What’s your name? - to a male)

DID YOU JUST ASSUME MY GENDER? It’s MA ISMEK YOU BIGOT!

I complained, apparently they are for 'educating' children.

The Walker Art Gallery Liverpool, very keen on their queer credentials.

Fuckaduck, that's appalling vagina!

Blimey flip, vaginafetishist!

Not sure what to say about that, I would like to say I’m surprised, but I’m utterly not.

On the topic of pronoun badges, I am Ms Maidenname, and I have been through my whole adult life, and two marriages. It’s very important to me, and I very much dislike being referred to as Mrs or Marriedname. It makes me feel invisible, subsumed by my marriage, and like my feelings don’t matter. It happens quite a lot.

But if I tried to address that by wearing a badge to work saying “it’s Ms”, people would think I was a massive dick, and they’d be so right.

And so with pronoun badges. Like surnames, second person pronouns are rarely used in face to face contact. It’s overshare, and it’s unecessary. If it is crucial to a person, it’s easily addressed by saying, politely, at the time “actually, I go by they”, like I do with my honorific and surname. Easy peasy, no hurt feelings ensue.

Unless of course the hurt feelings are the point?

What museum is that exactly? Museum of beards or something?

Yes

I see the advantage of these badges as giving me a convenient way of allowing me to steer well clear of individuals who are predisposed to be self-absorbed and desperate to take offence.

Pan is the Plan

For kids? For real?

and in that link, vagina, '

"After I realised [I was trans] I couldn’t then have long hair, I just couldn't cope with that, so I wore it in a hat for weeks until I could get a haircut, even when I was in doors I wore it in a hat.'

Is that not just quite a lot of angst about hair? These young people all seem terribly delicate. I hope they learn a bit of resilience.

Er, no it's not, is a fundamental part of civil society. By your reasoning Prince Andrew's ngger in the woodpile comment is a ok.*

No, by the reasoning on this thread, if Prince Andrew told everyone to refer to him as black that would NOT be OK.

Your example isn’t quite the right equivalent.

It's all so self centred - have yet to see a badge that says "tell me what your pronouns are/what pronouns would you like me to use". Mind you that could be because the vast majority of people would either ignore it/say they don't care/or ask what the heck are they on about.

Has any one read the Ben Elton book Identity Crisis? It has an old school copper in it getting in a right muddle about the new pronouns minefield. With absolutely hilarious results. You kind of get Ben Elton's stance on the madness of it all.

"I use bla bla bla."

"That's nice, dear. You go ahead and use bla bla bla."

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/local-news/liverpool-youngsters-what-its-really-17064044

Also from Liverpool
twitter.com/ThinkingFilm/status/1184393959134711808

Alltheprettyseahorses- which museum? I went to the Walker and they had colouring in sheets for children saying
-Trans is Rad
-NB is lovely
-Pan is the Plan
-Ace is Great

(Also Gay is ok and Lesbian is tres bien).
The Curator there has a twitter account where she tweets about 'queer feminism'

They has always been an acceptable first person singular pronoun in British English - useful when you don’t know or it’s utterly irrelevant what sex or ‘gender identity’ the person has. So I might say to a second helpful shop assistant - No, thank you I am already being served by your colleague - they have just gone to look in the stock room for X .

So - if the first helpful shop assistant has on a silly badge saying ‘ I use zir/ Xie ‘ or ‘ I use he/him’ or ‘I use she/her ‘ - and I say ‘ they’ as I have done for decades - am I now mispronouning ?

Not that I care, tbh, because all I want to do is buy the thing and say please and thank you during a polite transaction.

Ask me about my pronouns

“Hey man … tell me about your pronouns.”

Ah, ok, makes sense! Yes there's constant misgendering. Amazing she's still a friend really, with my and my family's inner essence constantly under attack...

Finns can't get to grips with pronouns either

Interesting. I've heard the same about Hungarians and understand Finnish and Hungarian are related to each other but not Indo-European languages.

Finns can't get to grips with pronouns either, even ones I know who speak very good English otherwise still use he and she interchangeably. Even the woke don't get it right, one kept confusing the pronouns of her trans relative when talking to me in English about them.

@ Ribbityrib - they just don’t use them! I just got used to getting called ‘he’... can’t say it’s made my womb fall out.

Yes yes to the ESOL issue. I have an Iranian friend who constantly mixes up he and she, I believe there is no difference in Persian. She'd find pronoun badges baffling linguistically (and also for other reasons, tbf )

Don't tell me, it was in a Lush shop wasn't it?