Use of preferred pronouns in work signature

[refusetobeasheep]

I came across my first work signature today which showed the preferred pronouns I should use. Not entirely sure why as she has an unambiguously female name and her pronouns are she / her / hers.

Anyone else seeing this in their professional lives?

She’s showing that she supports the right we all have to identify as who/what the hell we like. She’s okay with that. And I hope we see much more of it in our professional lives.

I saw this the other day in a semi-professional setting from someone who calls themselves a feminist, I admired her and thought she was very impressive in her area.

My heart sank and I can't honestly say that I feel the same away about her now.

I'm concerned I could be made to do this at work, I'm not sure what would happen if it was mandatory and I refused.

She's performing an anti-feminist action, of normalising a practice that risks, for women, invoking implicit bias against them, by drawing irrelevant attention to her sex.

I hope we see far less of it in our professional lives, as it's a regressive step for women.

I’ve seen it recently in a signature. Higher Education Institution 🙄

Well, I hope we don't. We don't all have the right to identify as who/what the hell we like. I can't identify as having professional qualifications I didn't train for, I can't identify as being half my actual age, I can't identify as not being a middle-aged woman who has hot flushes several times a day.

Just makes me suspect the person either, isn't actually a female because the "Lady doth protest too much", OR they have been taken in by an orthodox gender ideology and then I'd pity them.

And also, no the fuck we can't all identify as we like.

I personally, identify very strongly with my Scots grandmother and my Scottish heritage. Still doesn't make a bloody Scot, let alone enable me to freely move there, vote there, do whatever else you have to be Scottish to do in Scotland. Because I'm not Scottish!

Males can also identify very strongly with and as females. Doesn't make them bloody female! So excuse me if I don't put myself second in order to validate their identification with freaking pronouns in my email.

It's all complete bullshit. Regressive, non-feminist bull.

This whole pronouns nonsense makes my teeth itch.
If you're a bloke I'm going to call you "he". Get over it.

Surely it can't be made mandatory in any work place? It hasn't come up in my workplace but if it does, I won't do it.

I hope we see less of this in our professional lives Thankssomuch.

The right we all have to identify as who/what the hell we like
No we don't, you chump.

Can I be a doctor? A judge? Traffic police? Jesus Christ?

I'm so glad my boss thinks this is regressive bollocks. His dd plays rugby and he's furious at the prospect that a guy could be her opponent one day.

It's not compulsory, it's not affecting you, but makes someone feel comfortable. Get over it.

It's not affecting you

Speak for yourself, if it wasn't affecting the op they probably wouldn't have started a thread about it.

No and if I did I'd ignore it.

Of course it affects other people. We're the people who are supposed to remember what pronouns someone uses on pain of being marched to the gulag for wrongthink.

In our society you are allowed to identify out of your privilege into a more marginalised group. However you cannot identify from a marginalised group into privilege because your marginalisation overrides it.

Hence the "identify as" rhetoric is inherently bourgeois.

No, it's a helpful reminder. It really doesn't affect you. Particularly in an age of gender neutral names it's helpful, it's not a personal attack.

Particularly in an age of gender neutral names it's helpful

Indeed, how else are people supposed to know they are dealing with a silly female rather than a proper man and treat them accordingly?

Yep, this is a thing in higher education. I don't have it in my email signature. I don't believe that people emailing me need to know my gender or should treat me any differently in email correspondence dependent on my gender. I am in a minority of 1 in my workplace in not having this.

I personally don't see the issue, it's not in anyway affecting your life or your life at work! It would not bother me in the slightest and you are only causing yourself to get worked up!

Bit dramatic @Clymene. If you can remember someone’s name and job title I’m sure you can remember their preferred pronouns. But evidently you’re not expected to memorise them if they are being put in email signatures.

the right we all have to identify as who/what the hell we like.

Oh honey... No.

In the Glossier pop up shop in Covent Garden all the (obviously female born) staff have their pronouns displayed on badged on their pink boiler suits. Most said she/her but one woman had just written 'ask me' on hers. We had a brief conversation and an eye roll over it.

I saw my first email signature like that today too, work in the NHS, office based rather than frontline.

A friend of mine has to do this for work. She's put He/His/Him (or whatever the format is). No she doesn't identify as male, she does identify as being "fucking awkward for the sake of it".