Has the world gone mad?

Reading the list of pronouns just brought back sitting in the French lesson classroom and reciting a list of pronouns and their postion before the verb...I think. Me/te/se/nous/vous/le/la/les/lui/leur/y/en. Is that correct? I have just woken up!
I can almost hear our chanting voices. Sixty plus years ago.

Meandrogrog

butterandjam

I'm afraid it is people like your beloved family member, who have led to employees being asked to publically declare their preferred pronouns.

Perhaps "John" is on a genderfluid journey other people find confusing because he still has prominent breasts or is visibly pregnant.

What?

www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/20/the-dad-who-gave-birth-pregnant-trans-freddy-mcconnell

I meant spay not spray!

A gender neutral dog. Hilarious. Can you imagine the dog's owner phoning the vet to make an appointment for "Biscuit" to be "fixed."
The receptionist asks the sex of the dog.
Owner "They are Gender Neutral."
Receptionist "We castrate males and spray females. Which is it to be?
What does the owner say? Answers on a postcard ...

I can't wait until someone asks me what sex my dog is! I'm ready with the answer

No, it’s evolving as it always has.
I’m never offended. I just tick the box that applies to me personally, don’t see the issue 🤷‍♀️

butterandjam

I'm afraid it is people like your beloved family member, who have led to employees being asked to publically declare their preferred pronouns.

Perhaps "John" is on a genderfluid journey other people find confusing because he still has prominent breasts or is visibly pregnant.

What?

A very condescending response totally devoid of understanding arrived this morning in reply to a very cross email I’d sent regarding public transport changes. The obviously male name at the end was followed by he/him/his. Necessary? Not at all.

agnurse

I refuse to put my pronouns on my work email. I have zero belief in gender ideology and besides which, my name is classically female. The only times I could see doing it would be if you have a gender-neutral name (e.g. Taylor or Jamie), if you have a name that is not traditionally associated with your sex (I once met a man who is named Lynn; his parents wanted a daughter; he is biologically male and very comfortable in his identity), or if your name is one from a different language and it is not readily apparent what your sex is from it.

But why does it matter? In a professional context people are contacting you for your expertise, which is rarely based on sex. If someone addressing Jamie Smith thinks JS is male but in fact she is female, so what?

Yes, the world has gone mad, especially this country 🤷.

Luckygirl3

A gender neutral dog!!! Love it!

Presumably it was a boy, but minus his bits.

agnurse

I refuse to put my pronouns on my work email. I have zero belief in gender ideology and besides which, my name is classically female. The only times I could see doing it would be if you have a gender-neutral name (e.g. Taylor or Jamie), if you have a name that is not traditionally associated with your sex (I once met a man who is named Lynn; his parents wanted a daughter; he is biologically male and very comfortable in his identity), or if your name is one from a different language and it is not readily apparent what your sex is from it.

Lyn/Lynn/Llyn is actually a boy’s name in Welsh, and isn’t uncommon in the older generation.

I’ve heard it all now 😁

A gender neutral dog!!! Love it!

Haha, she should have asked ‘dog or bitch?’ 😁

That's been going on for ages, sure it was before Covid? I was asked, what I wanted when I worked in the Hospital. I was a bit flippant about it all, and wouldn't wear a label.

On the other hand... My Niece was in a park with her little Dog "Molly" a little femail dog... Molly became "friends" with another cute little dog. When my Niece asks the Dogs name it was something like "Biscuit" she asked the owner " Boy or a Girl"? to be informed it was Gender neutral.

I refuse to put my pronouns on my work email. I have zero belief in gender ideology and besides which, my name is classically female. The only times I could see doing it would be if you have a gender-neutral name (e.g. Taylor or Jamie), if you have a name that is not traditionally associated with your sex (I once met a man who is named Lynn; his parents wanted a daughter; he is biologically male and very comfortable in his identity), or if your name is one from a different language and it is not readily apparent what your sex is from it.

It was easier in the days when people were addressed by their title in professional settings (ie Mr, Mrs/Miss/Ms, Dr, Rev etc). That seems to have fallen from fashion these days.

I agree that so-called 'gender' is performative, as nine times out of ten someone's sex is entirely irrelevant to professional correspondence.

Whiff

I had an email and the woman had put she/ her after here name . So when I replied I put WOMAN after my name when she replied to the email she just put her name . I think she got the point .

Love it 😂

As his name is male the he/him stuff is totally unnecessary whether he is male from birth or transitioned male

If Joan Smith had been transitioning then he would put he/her etc after their name- and that makes sense.

I do hate all this performative nonsense that helps the self-righteous feel good about themselves, and only causes confusion. Let those affected by these issues make their own decisions about how they wish to tell people in conversations and in print about their status or not. For the rest of us, it is an issue that does not affect us and pretending it does, is I consider an insult to those who are affected.

Luckygirl3

I am absolutely happy for people to live the life they want to as long as they do so without harming others, but on a professional communication the writer's gender preferences are totally irrelevant to the matter in hand and have no place on these letters.

It might as well say: John Smith, likes jazz - it is nothing to do with the professional approach.

My DGC knows that their preferences are their own and they never get on a bandwagon forcing these into people's faces. They just quietly get on with their life. They have my support to be themself.

It's probably mainly for the benefit of people he works with. But rather than typing name out in full, he probably just does an e-signature with one keystroke, & it works for letters as well as emails.

So it's just a timesaving measure on his part, & I can't see it's offensive even if surplus to requirements.

In a social setting where it might be relevant I have no problem with someone saying that they prefer to be addressed as they or whatever, but it has no place in professional communications.

As I said above, I am sure a great deal of time was wasted in meetings about all this before a decision was made. I would prefer them to be just getting on with their jobs.

A friend experienced this at work. Staff were told to amend their email/letter templates to read as 'they' and also to not start any correspondence to 'Dear Mr, Mrs, Miss etc. That that was to be cut out completely. Also within the body of any correspondence staff were told to use 'they' eg your complaint has been forwarded to the manager and they will .....(Not he/she) Being old school my friend refused point blank to change her signature so when told it was not up for discussion, she said it was affecting her human rights to address herself under the gender she was born and lived by and it should be the individual staffs choice to follow this or not. They didn't pursue it any further with her.

Galaxy

It is declaring a political belief and as such not something that should be done at work.

Indeed.

It is declaring a political belief and as such not something that should be done at work.

I had an email and the woman had put she/ her after here name . So when I replied I put WOMAN after my name when she replied to the email she just put her name . I think she got the point .