“We encourage you to list your preferred pronoun”

[Renauda]

@LuFins-Dad

In your case I would insist upon Maestro.

You’re welcome.

[Axtremus]

The Master/His Lordship

[kluurs]

“Your excellency” should work.

[89th]

@LuFins-Dad said in “We encourage you to list your preferred pronoun”:

So I am participating at a Music Educator Conference this week. The printer of the name badges have reached out twice asking for my preferred pronouns for my badge… The staff member assisting me at the event and I have both declined the courtesy. I will be curious as to how many others will…

Good for you. Never thought about it, but if I were ever asked I guess I would just say "no thank you". It's like...how do you reply to someone who is taking your picture and then saying "what is your preferred race? preferred hair color?"

[LuFins Dad]

So I’m the only presenter without a listed pronoun, and about 10% of the exhibitors don’t have pronouns listed. All of the teachers have listed pronouns, and quite a few were they/them (10%). And each of the teachers and the three they/them exhibitors did not need to have a tag to tell us they were they/them… It was completely unnecessary.

Now among the kids? Completely different story. I’d say 15% They/them and most are young ladies…

[Mik]

Zer Majesty.

[Catseye3]

@LuFins-Dad said in “We encourage you to list your preferred pronoun”:

It was completely unnecessary.

This.

If it was me responding? "Surprise me. I promise I won't get mad."

[Mik]

Hopelessly complicating human relations for the dubious benefit of a few disturbed individuals. See my second sig line.

[LuFins Dad]

Just had a very nice young lady that had she/her/they/them on her badge…

Also seeing a lot of crossed out pronouns with new ones handwritten in all directions.

We have completely fucked up an entire generation.

[Axtremus]

There would be no problem with the pronouns if the pronouns were gender agnostic to begin with.

[jon-nyc]

@Axtremus said in “We encourage you to list your preferred pronoun”:

There would be no problem with the pronouns if the pronouns were gender agnostic to begin with.

There would be no problem if we had no pronouns and just kept tiresomely repeating the nouns over and over, too.

But English didn’t evolve that way either.

[Axtremus]

@jon-nyc said in “We encourage you to list your preferred pronoun”:

There would be no problem if we had no pronouns and just kept tiresomely repeating the nouns over and over, too.

Indeed, that will avoid a lot of misunderstandings, and render many sitcom tropes unworkable.

[Rainman]

@Axtremus said in “We encourage you to list your preferred pronoun”:

. . . and render many sitcom tropes unworkable.

Ends my world.

[George K]

Resumes including ‘they/them’ pronouns are more likely to be overlooked

Business.com also went a step further by sending two identical phantom resumes to “180 unique job postings that were explicitly open to entry-level candidates” in an effort to test “whether or not the inclusion of gender-neutral pronouns impacts how employers perceive resumes.”

“Both featured a gender-ambiguous name, ‘Taylor Williams.’ The only difference between the test and control resumes was the presence of gender pronouns on the test version,” McGonagill said in the report. “The test resume included “they/them” pronouns under the name in the header.” She/her and he/him pronouns were not tested.

The phantom resume including pronouns received 8% less interest than the one without, and fewer interview and phone screening invitations.

According to the report, over 64% of the companies that received these resumes were Equal Opportunity Employers, something that made the results even more “worrisome.”

“The law makes it clear that you cannot base any employment decision (hiring, terminating, or otherwise) based on their gender identity,” McGonagill says. “It’s incredibly disappointing and unethical that many of the hiring managers in our study would disqualify a candidate for being authentic.”

[Horace]

On one hand, people who look like their pronouns, but still want to express fealty to the pop culture religion of wokeness, advertise their eminent trainability and herd mentality, which is a good thing to employers. On the the other hand, there are connotations of "will take offense and sue for any reason that sniffs of social justice", which obviously is a bad thing. There is also the connotation of "don't really prefer to work with unindoctrinated people, especially unindoctrinated straight white males". That too is probably a net negative to hiring managers in all but the dumbest companies.

[LuFins Dad]

Had a long and interesting conversation with Lu of the Lufin last night (he’s home on break).

It helped clarify some of my own thoughts about this. Part of the problem is that this trans phenomenon is so wide in scope as well as definition. On one side you have these adult freaks that want to exhibit and shock to get some weird kick out of it. To the other extreme you have some kid that’s uncomfortable in their own skin (hardly unusual) and believe there is something wrong with themselves. Sometimes this manifests as girls with bulimia, guys that aren’t even athletes working out to excessive degrees that usually leads to steroids when they don’t achieve what they are searching for… Now, for a lot of these kids, a seeming explanation for their physical unease is simple… They are trans… It’s now a normal, easy, and even celebrated explanation. They are generally good kids. Just caught up in a hormonal overload mixed with a little depression, a little bit of autism, and a whole lot of low self esteem. These kids don’t deserve to be lumped into the same category as the freak fetishists.

But how do you help these kids? Certainly not by encouraging them to take steps to chemically and physically alter their bodies that can not and should never be an acceptable answer.., That’s like telling a bulimic that she should get gastric bypass… But it’s also unhelpful to conflate them with the sick fetishist… It really needs to begin with better education, especially when kids are entering puberty and hormonal overload. And as we’ve discovered, this education sure as hell can’t be left up to the schools…

[Jolly]

If that's the case, give this a few more years and watch the explosion.

[89th]

@LuFins-Dad said in “We encourage you to list your preferred pronoun”:

To the other extreme you have some kid that’s uncomfortable in their own skin (hardly unusual) and believe there is something wrong with themselves. Sometimes this manifests as girls with bulimia, guys that aren’t even athletes working out to excessive degrees that usually leads to steroids when they don’t achieve what they are searching for… Now, for a lot of these kids, a seeming explanation for their physical unease is simple… They are trans… It’s now a normal, easy, and even celebrated explanation. They are generally good kids. Just caught up in a hormonal overload mixed with a little depression, a little bit of autism, and a whole lot of low self esteem. These kids don’t deserve to be lumped into the same category as the freak fetishists.

This is a really good perspective, IMO. One of my primary/gut reactions to keeping the agenda of LGBT out of children's minds is exactly this... It's a trendy, easy, and instant-identity-value way of tackling what is otherwise normal growing pains, puberty, adolescence, and overall awkwardness of addressing sexuality as one enters puberty.

I remember growing up there would be plenty of times kids in the neighborhood would be called names, or we would go behind someone's shed and play the "show me yours I'll show you mine" game. Or we'd play smear the queer (although now I understand why my parents told us not to yell the game name so loudly LOL). As we (as boys) began to hit puberty, I recall a few times we'd be at a friends house who was.... looking at a porn magazine, or in one case said he had to go in the bathroom for a bit. In another example, someone was bold enough to talk about how they had an erection in their pants. Hardy har har... all stupid stuff.

These days when those types of things happen, I would imagine the immediate topic would be "oh, are you gay? or are you trans?".

From a much larger perspective, what is trans anyway? If male vs female is based on sex, but man vs woman is based on gender.... isn't gender really more of a view of what is traditionally masculine vs feminine? For example, if a biological female thinks she's really a man, isn't it more that she feels more aligned with traditionally masculine cultural norms? Can't she just be a masculine female (or on the flip side, can't men just be feminine males?) without some mental disability or disorder where the person truly thinks they are the opposite of what their genetics say?

[Jolly]

IOW, do tomboys still exist?

[LuFins Dad]

Ouch.. Just picked up a cup of coffee.. Donald the Barista has a They/Them name tag. I get my coffee and without thinking say “Thank you, good sir!”

Oh well…