Response to request to state pronouns

[Zita60]

There have been a number of threads about how to respond if you're asked or required to state your pronouns. One of them mentioned an interesting concept whose name I've forgotten. I haven't been able to find the thread and wondered if anyone can tell me what this concept is called.

It was called "stereotype <something>". It means that people can tend to live up to stereotypes about their sex, race etc - for example, that women aren't good at maths. In the case of pronouns, it means if you're female and have to give pronouns that make that clear, it reinforces your femaleness and you might then live up to the stereotype that you're not good at maths.

What was this concept called? I thought it would be a good thing to mention if anyone tries to force me to state my pronouns.

Stereotype threat I think?

Yes stereotype threat

Stereotype threat - that's it. Thank you!

If you follow that train of thought, doesn't it take you down the non-binary rabbit hole?

I don't think so. Non-binary seems to mean denying that you're female. The concept of stereotype threat would be knowing that you're female but not drawing attention to it, for example, in the workplace.

@Zita60 I think NB means what the person wants it to mean! There doesn't seem to be a clear definition. And I know from personal experience there are NBs who accept they are female but use NB to avoid drawing attention to it and to try to avoid stereotyping

I think you might be right about there not being a clear definition of NB.

To me though, declaring you're NB seems to draw attention to yourself - everyone can see you're female and not everyone will be sympathetic to it. And it probably wouldn't affect stereotyping if you're obviously female.

My instinctive reaction when I saw an email signature at work that said "they/them" for a person who was clearly female was to roll my eyes and resolve to try and avoid her if possible. My reaction might or might not be typical.

Thankfully I retired before all the pronoun nonsense, but would be very tempted to reply “I/me/my” if ever asked for mine.

Stereotype threat is not about other people stereotyping you - that's basic discrimination, which is indeed increased by other people's attention being drawn to your sex. It's about your own performance being impaired because of a reminder of your sex and the stereotypes associated with it (and only the first part needs to be explicit for it to occur, your brain fills in the syereotypes itself).

Iirc, there was an experiment where women about to take an exam (maths I think) were told that women are stereotypically considered to be poor at maths and they did worse in the exam than those who were not told this.

You do indeed recall correctly.

"I don't play the pronoun game thanks"

That's all.

I now have I Me Mine in my head. Great song so a nice earworm to have 😀