How best to answer 'What are your preferred pronouns?' in an intervew

[NancyDrawed]

I have been out of the workforce for a very long time but finally have an in-person interview later this week.

The confirmation email is signed by a name followed by (he/him/his). I need to get a job. But I am trying to get my head around what I would say if I was directly asked what my preferred pronouns are.

On principle I would like to say 'I'm not a follower of that ideology so use whichever you see fit' or something along those lines, but is that likely to mean I have no chance of getting the job?

I am clearly female, so a small part of me would want to say he/him/his just to see the reaction!

It might not even come up at all, but I'd like to be prepared.

Indeed Errol!! How about that!!

Oops 😬

Oops

it’s easy to misgender people accidentally. When I do it (which of course I do occasionally) I correct myself and move on. I have no idea what this teacher’s pronouns are. And that is why you ask.

Jesus, do I dislike being lectured by a man (which I assume you are) about what women should think about men who masquerade as women, take over our sports, open nice big loopholes for predators to enter changing rooms and endanger vulnerable women in prisons.

If you are indeed a bloke, who the fuck to do you think you are to come and tut tut at us about this?

If you are a woman, perhaps you need a reality check.

Not feeling tolerant this evening.

I don't know what the teacher's sex is, so I'd have just stuck to the centuries old English rule for persons of unknown sex and used 'they'. There's no need to ask, use 'they' if you don't know.

Presumably not "he", though, since the teacher objected to being called Mr.

@DadJoke I know you feel strongly on this issue and gender ideology in general but do you support a she or he for this person?

Particularly in court where the victim uses he
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8rdpdm4r4ro

To add @DadJoke I know you may have your own reasons for caring about he and she pronouns but I would like it if you could see the pain for women on this and I believe that court case shows it incredibly well

Calling a man 'mr' is not an error

If a teacher says “address me as teacher” and the student calls them Mr, they have made an error.

If only the BBC’s errors were so easily corrected. Perhaps incorrect sex-based pronouns in these cases could simply be replaced with ‘rapist’ and then there would be no room for confusion.

Instructing students to use neutral descriptors is not a neutral act at all in this case. It is coercively forcing students to support that teacher’s philosophical or political belief. It is not appropriate in a school class room.

The teacher’s philosophical belief that they are a teacher?

Or the rapist’s philosophical belief that they’re a woman.

I see you’re carefully ignoring the questions you don’t like again DJ.

The teacher’s philosophical belief that they are a teacher?

No, the teacher's philosophical belief that he is neither a man nor a woman and is therefore entitled a) to special term of address and b) to coerce all the children into going along with his belief.

@DadJoke You seem to have missed the question in the quotes post. I would be interested to hear your answer and the reasoning behind it.

It’s not “coercing children” any more than asking them to use Ms is coercing them to believe in feminism.

Whereas telling people to refer to rapists as ‘she’ is actual coercion.

We shouldn’t be correcting a child who is aware of biological reality anymore than a victim who wants to use he in court for the rapist

It’s not “coercing children” any more than asking them to use Ms is coercing them to believe in feminism.

Rubbish.

A teacher can explain, if asked, why she prefers to be called "Ms" without telling any untruths, or forcing the children to.

This.

Also OP - be prepared, but don't assume he's definitely going to ask you.

Lots of people have pronouns in their emails to show what a lovely ally they ar/ They might agree with Stonewall, but when it comes to the reality and awkwardness of implementing this political ritual in real life, they never do.

I actually think it's absolutely fine for a teacher to request being called 'teacher' (tbh I think it'd be a sensible default form of address and get rid of the perennial issue of kids calling women teachers 'miss' and men 'sir'!). The problem is how they respond if a kid doesn't get it 'right' . Well, we don't know exactly what 'uppity' meant but it sounds like they probably put their feelings ahead of the child's. That's really not on if it was an innocent, natural 'error'.

If the children identify the teacher as male, it's going to be an uphill struggle to stop them referring to him as such. I'll guarantee they're not calling him "they" if talking about him out of class.

I agree with you. In my kids' primary school teachers were called múinteoir (Irish for teacher), múinteoir first name or just first name. It made total sense.

However, if the norm in a school is for Ms/Mr surname then students are likely to get it wrong, particularly if the teacher is asking to be called Teacher Surname instead of Mr Surname. A reasonable response to using Mr Surname would be "I prefer to be addressed as Teacher Surname. Can you try to remember in future "