Why I Don’t Ask for People’s Pronouns or Announce Mine
I prefer not to be asked for my “preferred pronouns.” In a world as diverse as ours, not everyone’s preferences can be catered to all the time. This leaves us with the question: should we ask everyone, no one, or only those who look “different” for their pronouns?
It won’t be othering, they say, because we’ll ask everyone.
But they won’t. Not only will they never get everyone else to ask all of us for our pronouns, but the wokest among us will, in most situations, only ask the queers, the gender non-conformers, the people who look like they might “have” pronouns. To the extent that their mission works, that this catches on, it will only do so among some well-meaning leftists who will learn to hesitate when they see someone like me, and then ask, essentially, “Are you a them yet?”
No no, I have to constantly tell people now, I’m not a them. People used to just assume I’m a vegetarian. Friends I’ve known for years will still sometimes, while inviting me to a BBQ, falter and say, “Oh sorry! I know you don’t eat meat, but, uh, we’ll have potato chips…”
It’s true that I don’t eat much meat and that I do eat a lot of vegetables. I treat meat like I treat cocaine. I don’t buy it, but, if someone else prepares it for me and it’s good shit, I might have some, depending on what I have…
