To be irritated at being asked to give my pronouns?

[purpledaze24]

I work in a very “progressive” organisation who are constantly trying to be sooo pc about everything 🙄
Almost daily I have meetings with colleagues, clients, and people from other organisations. At the beginning of EVERY meeting my manager asks everyone to go round and give their pronouns. It’s SO annoying! Every single person is always the pronoun they look like, my work also has nothing to do with supporting trans people or anything related, many of the people I’ve known for years, yet she still makes us do this every single meeting!! AIBU to be unbelievably irritated (and actually kind of offended) by this?

On a slightly different topic, I was at a friend’s barbecue recently and there was a young woman there who asked what my pronouns were. I answered she/her through gritted teeth and she said back “I’m he/him” (!) She was (what I assumed) was a slightly boyish lesbian. She didn’t appear to be making any attempt to look like a man. She even had long hair. She was just wearing “boyish” clothes (but stuff I’d wear sometimes). I thought how annoying it must be to go through life constantly having to “correct” people. Am I being overly judgmental by being annoyed by this? Like it feels like she’s just making a total mockery of gender and actually if I was a genuine trans man who desperately wanted to be recognised as he/him I’d feel like she was taking the absolute piss!

I agree!! If your a woman your a woman if your a man your a man

Definitely. Even aside from the politics and WORIAD issues, it amazes me that employers who think gender identity outranks all other considerations don't realise this can do as much bad as good for gender non-comforming employees. It's basically obliging people to take a definitive stance when they may have very good reasons not to.

I work in the same type of environment.
My first response is "I'm Abouttoblow from the Business Team."
Most times there's no come back. If there is and I'm asked to share my pronouns i say "No, I'm good thanks".
On the two occasions there has been a response to that I say "I'm a woman, use whatever pronouns you feel are appropriate based on that information."

I refuse to participate in this BS.

I've noticed an increasing tendency recently on social media (and indeed this site!) to use "they" to refer to a singular entity in situations where the subject couldn't possibly be offended about being misgendered. For example when describing a DC who has already been referred to as "he/she" or even when talking about an animal ("it", surely, if the gender is unknown?) People are really getting tied up in knots about this and it has the potential to cause confusion - how many kids/missing cats are they (used correctly here to denote a non-specific, unidentified subject) talking about? 🙄

This is not a right/ left thing. It’s too important and affects us all.

I’d say ‘I’m thinking about that, can’t answer it at the moment’

I've noticed an increasing tendency recently on social media (and indeed this site!) to use "they" to refer to a singular entity in situations where the subject couldn't possibly be offended about being misgendered.

Interesting that has always been an option within the glory that is the English tongue.

We're so very lucky in the UK to have GC across the political spectrum. I think that's why we've been able to take the fight to trans ideology so effectively on Terf Island. The multipolarity of the movement is something we've got to protect.

I certainly agree with this

I find it extraordinary that in the US, practically zero Democrats feel able to stand up for women and their rights on this issue. What happened?

Yep. I meet dozens of new people every month in my work. I can’t even remember their names, never mind keep track of their special feelings.

'It's not a practice to which I adhere'

I get asked mine fairly frequently, and I just ignore it. Usually goes something like

"Can you tell us your name, pronouns, job role"
"Hi, I'm x, I'm an astronaut"
"And your pronouns"
"Nah, you're alright"
"..... Ok, moving on"

Only once has anyone tried forcing the issue further than that and I just replied that I'm sure people could work it out for themselves.

You could point out to HR that doing it in this setting is actually marginalising in its own way - the meeting organiser is potentially forcing someone to out themselves who is unclear on who they are, but forced to make a decision in a public way.

Play the fuckers at their own game.

I'm job hunting at the moment and it seems that every single application asks for sodding pronouns.

When asked mine i say she who must be obeyed.

I’d just say people are welcome to use the pronouns they think appropriate for me as an obvious woman with huge tits, in a dress and a female name

I’m amazed you’ve gone along with it for so long. It wouldn’t wash where I work and we’re a very inclusive and welcoming org.

I roll my eyes when I get emails with pronouns in now although
thankfully, that’s become very rare.

I'd love to be asked so I can say I prefer "It" and "What?" 🙂

We were asked / pretty much told that we had to put our pronouns into our email signature at work. The rationale was so that people wouldn't have to ask our pronouns and they would use our correct pronouns if writing back to us or about us.
As a lesbian, I 'come out' to someone or have to choose words to mask this pretty much on a daily basis. I stood up against having to declare my pronouns as well.
Amazingly, once one person questioned it, a lot of people didn't choose to add their pronouns.

It's the Progressive equivalent of Catholics genuflecting towards the altar on entering a church - the appropriate respects have to be paid to the relevant divinity before business can move forward. Which is why the ritual must be performed even if everyone always uses the obvious pronoun.

I've been asked and I just stared blankly at them until they went away 🤣

Can you answer "it"? I'd be irritated too, in this context.

How many of these pronoun trendies didn't even have a clue what a pronoun WAS until a few years ago?! That's another option - play it dumb and wide-eyed and ask 'what's pronouns?'........

Not so sure I'm convinced by that. Also it risks bringing in the rather dim shouty atheists ... although the picture of them and some pronouned-people having a massive bunfight in HR does tickle my more puerile side.

Bleurgh

Yes! I’m left wing, and I will not be told I have to buy into this sexist shite or get kicked out of the club. I’m pretty sure Marx would have had no time for it anyhow.

Even my very woke museum job doesn’t require me to give pronouns in every meeting!