Right… pronouns

[Pronounsworkemail]

NC for this. Well, my friend has no issues with people putting pronouns on their emails. But my friend has joined a new work place and was sent a suggested email signature which includes pronoun.

Friend has no issues others doing so on their email, there is inclusivity and all, but are people being forced to put pronouns on their work email signature. What does the law say on this? Friend is stuck and has not set up the signature yet. Where is choice in all this?

Just delete it off the template. Pronoun on emails nonsense ended at least 5years ago surely? No one adheres to this shite anymore.

I wouldn't jump to thinking of people being forced or compelled or what's legal or not. It's a suggested email signature. Use it and just delete the pronouns part, no need to make any kind of statement or response. I would be fairly certain that no one will notice.

Our email auto signature template contains a space for pronouns too.

I just deleted it off. I would say less than a quarter of people (in our very corporately “progressive” company) include them.

I would advise quietly leaving them off, they can’t make it mandatory.

If asked about it just say “that’s not a practice I participate in”.

I think the whole thing is rubbish but if the company want to be inclusive and respectful then it works both ways and they need to respect those who don't want to do this. I'd be deleting it off the template and if it doesn't work I'd manually delete every single time. If pulled up on it Id be referring to their inclusion policy, no doubt there is one and it will say each individual should be respected for their identity. In this case my identity is someone who doesn't put pronouns on emails.

Nobody is forcing your friend to do anything. Add pronouns, don’t add pronouns. Whatever floats your boat. HTH.

It's not a legal requirement but not something that worries me as a number of people now use they/them pronouns so it's handy to know

Phew!!! Thank you all. Indeed, first instinct was to delete. However the email is replete with must, no exceptions, there is even a line on how ALL emails must be answered!

Will tell them they can delete, make no statement. If asked I think best response would be, ‘I didn’t think it was compulsory’.

Thank you all. MN is good for things like this!

Yes, big on inclusivity and have a huge manual covering all. It’s what made them pause!

It's also handy when you work with Sam's or Alex's etc and may need to refer to them in conversation even if you've never met them yet 🤣

If your friend is female without an obvious feminine name, then it's actually a disadvantage to add female pronouns. So if it is commented on and if she doesn't want to get into a trans debate, there's another angle.

Surely you can just use Sam or Alex’s name if you need to refer to them in conversation and you don’t know their sex.

Can’t she edit the signature and remove that line or leave it blank - no need for drama

as pp says - for females it can be harmful to make people aware of your sex

"I don't feel emotionally safe declaring my pronouns" should cover it

I was frequently missexed due to my name

I really didn’t feel any upset at all in finding out

in fact I was generally chuffed

Probably too outdated to help, but when I worked in the Civil Service in the early ‘80s, we women were required to add a title after a signature, so that the recipient knew how to address us. Miss, Mrs, or Ms.
Quite otiose, you’d think, when 99% of our names indicated our sex. But still we had to remove any need for deliberation from our addressees.

It made my blood boil of course, as no man had to do it, and it forged in me an intense determination never more to give in to the folly and sexist operational hindrance of women having to feck around with three flipping titles, so I have remained Miss despite the misunderstandings and assumptions, and even anger, it has caused over the years.
It was this rule which made me reject the ‘Ms’ I’d eagerly adopted years before, and view it 👿 as a poisoned chalice for women, but that’s another day’s torturous debate!

Don't be so dramatic.

"Forced" FGS. There's no forcing.

Do it or don't, no need to make a victim out of yourself over it.

How, when you’ve no idea whether they’re using correct sex pronouns or not?

Ooh good response!

Or maybe declaring pronouns is having a negative impact on my mental health

I'd love to join that debate.
I married but wear no ring and go by Ms (to deliberately not declare marital status) but I'm now quite interested in the Mx as it is a refusal to declare marital status or sex. But nowadays it feels more like a non-binary declaration than I'm comfortable with 🫠

Yes, I (oh shit) always feel unsafe whenever someone (dammit) uses a pronoun near me (aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggggg)

Yes, only twats use Mx and pronouns. No need for any titles most of the time. When there is, Mr for male and Ms for female covers it - sex can be a salient feature in human interactions at times.

This always enrages me. My old workplace wanted me to put she/her at the bottom of my email. I work in a very male dominated field, and of course no other firms were using pronouns. I told them I wished to draw no further attention to my sex than I had to, and that whilst my name was obviously feminine, I didn’t see the point in further highlighting my sex when it’s irrelevant to my work.

I have no issue with others adding pronouns to their email. I will respect pronouns. But I am not adding it to my email signature.

And despite what people say, I have worked in places where it was compulsory to have your pronouns in your email. One was a college, one was a charity.

I’ve noticed that the majority of people
who put their pronouns in their email signatures at our place (I don't) are straight white women.
we’re a pretty multicultural organisation and I’m aware of one or two trans people (out of several thousand) but it just seems to be the “real” women who advertise their pronouns for the most part.

I did this! A while ago I refused to give my pronouns to an external training company that was being brought in as 'It was unreasonable for them to force me to declare something I was uncomfortable declaring'. I did not anticipate the handwringing, the apologies from HR and the training company, the lengthy emails offering to meet with me to discuss how I could be accommodated, more emails asking me how I thought they could be more inclusive. I was just doing it to make a point (and for my own entertainment) and never thought it would get such a response.