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?

Hers as in "this bicycle is hers"? Doesn't count because the S is just the possessive S which, because English is a bit weird, is not separated from the pronoun with an apostrophe.

Try the following sentences:

This is his bicycle. It belongs to him.

This is her bicycle. It belongs to her.

I caused a bit of upset when I was asked to do this, and decided I wanted to identify as a cable clip, so put my pronouns as clip/clipped - boss wasn't happy, but I put on a straight face and said "are you questioning my identity, are you discriminating against clips, what if i was a pipe clip, would you discriminate against that"
Eventually someone more senior told me to take it off and that was that - our caretaker still has "Dogs/Body" on his email signature, no one has noticed!

Surely it's just stating how you'd like others to identify you as. Trying to be all clever and saying "oh just identify me by my name" is stupid because pronouns are obviously there to make English a little easier.

Are you often referred to as a He? Is your name unisex?

Because she objects to doing it.

Interestingly, the key D&I advocates on my team don't use them. And I've noticed a few others who did include them (one with an explanation about why people include them) have now removed them.

But what people prefer is meaningless. You could say anything you like.

It means nothing. In reality you're either male or female.

Yes my name is unisex which means I'd put it in just to make it clearer although I wouldn't say I'm referred to as He a ton. But I also think it's a pretty easy thing to do that doesn't really cause a lot of problems?? I mean what issue is there really. Do correct me if I'm wrong though, I'm not going to pretend and say I know a lot about all of this.

I don’t need it. I don’t ‘identify’ in any case, I just am a woman.

No one has got it wrong.

Oh merlin 😂😂😂

Thank you ❤️

Well if "being forced to use pronouns" was the worst thing about my job I'd consider myself very fortunate

Your job seems to be dicking about on feminism threads telling women to be quiet.

If asked, I'm going to say my preferred pronouns are he/ him. Why should men hog the power pronouns?

DH is going to choose she/her for, er, herself.

We are heterosexuals with gendered forenames.

If this catches on the waters of preferred pronouns will soon get very muddy .

We / One

Our/ one's

His/her/their/ your majesty

sir/ ma'am

I would love to see this on a name badge

I mean, why not?

When people say just tell them how you identify

Well that's the problem

I don't identify as male or female although I am

And since the pronouns don't mean male or female it would be stupid to use them that way

But why do they they mean ?
Does she mean indentify with femininity ? Do I identify with the expectations that I will take a back seat , enjoy shopping ?

What does it mean?

Why can you explain what it means to identify as someone who prefer to use she pronouns ?

Ironically the whole “must give your pronouns” thing is predicated on HR’s assumption that you are not in fact trans, otherwise they wouldn’t dare demand it. So rather trans exclusionary really. We have a TW at work, I’m happy to refer to them as “they” as they have requested, just as I will respect my Muslim colleague’s beliefs although I’m an atheist. That should be enough, I don’t have to adopt other people’s belief systems, or pretend I do to be polite. No thanks!

In my 50 years on the planet and 30+ years working no one has ever got it wrong with me so I’ll carry on as I am thank you.

Put 'agender'?

What does it mean "get ut right"

It used to mean "use the pronoun appropriate to the sex as you observe it"

What does it mean now ?

DH will soon be changing them back as he will soon find that he isn't treated with the same respect as he used to have. Would be an interesting experiment though.

Maybe along with my ‘preferred pronouns’ I should add that I identify as being 5’ 8” tall and a size 8.

The fact that I am 5 foot and a size 14 is immaterial, as it’s all about identity

For those who genuinely can’t see the problem with pronouns for me it’s when identity conflicts with truth. Also to misquote a phrase ‘identity exists in the eye of the beholder’. Someone can identify as whatever the hell they want but if other people literally can’t see that then their self-proclaimed identify is meaningless.

This is true. I have been surprised - not in a good way - seeing certain of my senior colleagues adding pronouns to their signature.

@MerlinsLostMarbles wow!
I'm wondering why a "hateful diatribe" feels like a logical response to you?

It's also the compelled speech aspect of it. As an example, the Scottish Government's 'encouragement' of their staff to undertake a pronoun pledge, despite 58% of respondents to a consultation indicating that they did not wish to include pronouns on their email signatures.

Such compelled speech, enforced by a power imbalance, would normally be seen as a bad thing.

But no, here we have posters enthusiastically promoting compelled speech. It's truly bizarre.

I filled in an application form, it asked was I she/her/them. I wrote I was a female, I never got an interview or even a reply.