91成人导航

Amber Mateer (she/her pronouns), a graduate assistant with 91成人导航 Recreation, succinctly sums up the importance of personal pronouns and their proper usage. In a video, she states three reasons:

路听听听听听 鈥淧ronouns are people鈥檚 identities. They are not preferred, they are simply pronouns.鈥�

路听听听听听 鈥淕ender expression and gender identity are not the same thing. Therefore, asking for and respecting people鈥檚 pronouns helps to solidify that you cannot assume somebody鈥檚 gender based on the way they look.鈥�

路听听听听听 鈥淯sing pronouns helps to create inclusive and safer environments, specifically for our trans and non-binary folk.鈥�

Those thoughts were expanded upon Oct. 20, when the聽Gender Studies Program along with the Department of Modern Languages and Literature and Intercultural Student Success held 鈥�A Dialogue on Gender, Politics and Pronouns Across Languages.鈥�

The event coincided with , which seeks to make respecting, sharing and education about personal pronouns commonplace.

The panel was moderated by Professor Jennifer Helgren (she/her), chair of the History Department and director of the Gender Studies Program.

鈥淲e recognize the need to continue this celebration (International Pronouns Day) and to expand it as well,鈥� Helgren said.

The panelists were Colleen Smith (she/her), associate director of Intercultural Student Success, Cosana Eram (she/her), associate professor of French; and Traci Roberts-Camps (she/her) professor of Spanish and chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literature.

鈥淚 am super passionate about pronouns, which is an interesting thing to be passionate about,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淭丑别y are tiny, little words, but they carry a lot of impact. I hope this space will make us realize how we can affirm identities through these tiny words.鈥�

Smith defined pronouns as the way that you refer to someone in the third person in place of their name.

鈥淭丑别 trouble with pronouns is we make a lot of assumption in their use. Take the English language. The most common pronouns are she/her, he/him and sometimes the singular they,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淧ronouns can be very limiting as they fall into the binary, plus we end up making assumptions on which pronouns people use in an instant based on the way that they look, their name, their voice, etc.鈥�

Smith said it is important to honor selected pronouns and help to normalize their usage, and added that it helps to 鈥渙pen up the floor, but never force.鈥�

Mateer, in her video, suggested five strategies for commonplace usage of pronouns: name tags, email signatures, virtual screen names, social media biographies and whenever you introduce yourself, in person or virtually.

Professors Eram and Roberts-Camps shared issues involved with pronoun usage in languages other than English.

鈥淕eneralizations are problematic right now,鈥� Eram said. 鈥淲e have so many nuances in languages today. People can feel a bit trapped in the complexities of the French language when it comes to gender.鈥�

Roberts-Camps sees unique issues with Spanish and emphasizes 鈥渓anguage is living鈥� and frequently changing.

鈥淚n class, what we are learning is, for better or worse, termed normative Spanish,鈥� Roberts-Camps said. 鈥淏ut students come to me with very legitimate Spanish from different countries, from different family contexts. There are so many other versions that are just as legitimate.鈥�

Roberts-Camps said a by the Real Academia Espa帽ola, the organization that oversees issues involving the Spanish language.

The panelists agreed that inclusive language issues鈥攕pecifically pronouns鈥攁re ongoing and take a steadfast and determined approach.

鈥淭丑别 Pride Resource Center is available and we would love to help support your pronoun usage and understanding,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淢ost importantly, to our trans, non-binary and non-conforming students, please let us be a resource for you.鈥�