Declining to put my preferred pronouns in my email signature

[HowDoIGetThisThingOff]

It's finally happened, I've been "told" to put my preferred pronouns in my email signature at work.

I've emailed back saying my preference is that I don't do this. But I'm feeling a bit anxious 😬.

Please can I get some advice on what to say if they come back with questions or pressure to comply?

This. It’s a bit embarrassing.

Well I think the article linked shows it

I think also research on recruitment shows how once the sex is known women are disadvantaged

I think personal experience also shows it

I have never drawn attention to my sex and many people get it wrong on the basis of my name ( different culture /languages ) and honestly that's why I would never put she her as pronouns on an email

Because men and women are not treated equally in the work place. Asking women to draw attention to their sex is likely to increase discrimination.

Because I don't want to. That's enough of a reason.

My reply when I was asked my pronouns for a badge was just put my name. In a shop situation there is no interaction with customers that can't be dealt with by using my name

Oh but there is research that suggests everyone using they them reduces bias

Off to read more

“Genuinely can’t see the issue. Just put the pronouns. Seems a strange hill to die on.”

The issue is I don’t believe in the new religion, I don’t want to be forced into participating in the rites and rituals of the new religion.

I think that restructuring society, law and policy around gender identity rather than observable, immutable sex is harmful to individuals and society. Hopefully proponents of gender identity won’t be bringing in burning at the stake for heathens, heretics and recusants and I won’t have to die on this hill but I object strongly to the promotion of an ideology which I think is authoritarian and harmful in my email signature. I try to avoid hypocrisy in all areas of life and I don’t want to stoop to it in order to work my way up the career ladder. Integrity matters.

Your options are
1- State your preferred pronouns. Everyone's happy.

2- Refuse to do so and launch into a hateful diatribe about transpeople when asked why. Fall out with your boss and colleagues and end up getting fired.

It's coming to my workplace soon. It's not mandatory yet but if it ever is my plan is first to say no and if that doesnt work I'm going to be a different pronoun half daily. And I will police it.

So Monday morning ze/zim
Monday afternoon, catself/meow.
Etc etc and throw in the odd if it's a Thursday in March and a full moon I'm fae/faery/faeself.

I've got quite a few onboard with similar plans. And we will keep going to HR to tell them we were misgendered and we dont feel safe. can we go home to recover.
Any emails that have misgendered us will be used to start a tribunal.

It's the only way to stop this whole shite.

“Why don't you just include whichever pronouns you want people to use for you?”

I prefer to let the speaker decide, just as has been the case for all of human history up until now.

But everyone’s not happy Merlin - see the majority of the three above. We’ll make you do it or you get fired is somewhat authoritarian don’t you think?

“Your options are
1- State your preferred pronouns. Everyone's happy.

2- Refuse to do so and launch into a hateful diatribe about transpeople when asked why. Fall out with your boss and colleagues and end up getting fired.”

Adhere to the prescribed rites and rituals of the new religion or be subjected to the new inquisition.

No thank you.

The word “no” and “a hateful diatribe” are just synonyms now in TRA world, aren’t they?

Speaks volumes about how men see women saying “no” to them.

Girlboss1989
Of course that's ok, it's your choice and if you are unsure about what pronouns you would like people to use then that's fine. The reason that you would put your preferred pronouns in an email signature is so that the people who you work with know how best to refer to you, obviously if you don't include your pronouns then you're asking them to assume based on things like your name and appearance.

Yep, like people have been doing. I'm fine with that, I find the whole pronoun thing absolutely ludicrous. If someone were to get it wrong I'd either ignore it, laugh it off or politely correct them because it's not an issue.

It is not respectful of my beliefs to try to force me to buy into an ideology that I do not believe in.

Gender reassignment is one of 9 protected characteristics, why does anyone think it's acceptable to ask people to declare a protected characteristic to all and sundry in my email signature.

Will I be told I need to add a line saying I'm blind in one eye next? Just in case anyone wants to know whether or not they can discriminate against me for a disability. I already fall into the female category which research shows means I'm going to get slower responses and less positive responses to my emails.

Well if you read the rest of the thread you will see that these are certainly not the only options!!

I've just realised that women have been short-changed on pronouns.

Men have He, Him and His.
We have She and Her.

This can't be right.

👏🏻👏🏻 excellent. I hope you do it 😁

I think it would make you happy but not everyone, as the posts show

It doesn’t require a diatribe nor firing.

Just no added pronouns, not an issue

Just put

Your Name (take a wild guess/whatever you think I am?)

I don't bow to this nonsense either, you aren't a very convincing laydeee/man if you need to write what you are on an email, how do these people manage in real life, do they wear a t-shirt saying "I'm a laydeee/man" so we know they are. If you need to tell people what you are this clearly isn't what you are in reality.

It shouldn’t be a crime to misgender anyone. Misgendering = correct-sexing! That poor woman - shame on Derbyshire Police, it must have felt like being abused and gaslit all over again.

My comment here though re email signatures at work was do trans people (the reasonable, non-ranty ones) appreciate it as a form of “cis” allyship, or does it just throw up more problems than it solves?

Someone where I work has their preferred pronouns as he/her/their.

I can't work out if they're taking the piss or not.

This is a very good point. Can we have She, Sher and her, perhaps?

She, Cher, Shergar?

I think putting names on emails is also about making it routine, so if a trans person does it they don't stand out so much as different?

She her hers