discussion What are your thoughts on neopronouns?

[YourFavoriteWeapon]

 

 

I've been observant of the recent phenomenon known as "neopronouns", which are customized sets of pronouns that can be formed from any word (ex: catself, dogself, bunnyself, treeself, orangeself, cloudself, etc.) I try to remain respectful of how people identify but I can't help but find this recent trend to be a little unsettling and almost like a mockery of actual dysphoric trans people and the struggles they face (and ngl I only see seemingly upper-middle class white people do this **** which makes me think they're just looking for oppression points  )  I have no issue with he, she, or they, but expecting those to affirm your desire to identify and be seen as an animal or plant or food or object just screams attention seeking to me. 

[dumbsparce]

 

[The7thStranger]

Reminds me of the early 2010s on Tumblr with everybody talking about the terms they coined to describe their gender and sexual orientation.

 

Those... didn't catch on either. I get wanting to explore who you are, but we can barely get people to embrace the singular "they."

[Dita Parlo]

in the late 2010s no one really cared if you were gay but it's not like that anymore. The nonbinary movement isn't beating the mentally ill allegations.

Edited yesterday at 06:28 PM by Dita Parlo

[glitch]

Something coined by children/teenagers who don't know any better which has been used as a right wing reactionary talking point to make trans and non-binary people look stupid

Edited yesterday at 06:30 PM by glitch

[Khal]

They're CIA psy-ops who exist to make trans/NB people seem annoying. 

[LIT]

There's some neopronouns that I actually find quite neat: for example "ey/em/eir(s)" as a gender-neutral third person singular pronoun. It provides a real advantage over "they/them" because it's ambiguous whether "they/them" is singular or plural.

 

I don't see the ones like "cloudself" etc. ever catching on, but they're harmless at the end of the day. It would be misguided to blame neopronouns for homophobia/transphobia instead of its actual root cause (patriarchy).

[Mitsouko]

Their own worst enemy

 

Just now, LIT said:

There's some neopronouns that I actually find quite neat: for example "ey/em/eir(s)" as a gender-neutral third person singular pronoun. It provides a real advantage over "they/them" because it's ambiguous whether "they/them" is singular or plural

Yes because ey/em/eir(s) would be so much clearer than they/them to the vast majority of people

 

[RoughOperator]

It's just inoffensive childish tribing that has nothing to do with either gender dysphoric people or real life in general and thus deserves no attention 

[Gesamtkunstwerk]

Idk if it's because I don't live in US, but I have legitimately never seen this irl, only in niche online spaces with mostly white Americans  

[YourFavoriteWeapon]

1 minute ago, LIT said:

There's some neopronouns that I actually find quite neat: for example "ey/em/eir(s)" as a gender-neutral third person singular pronoun. It provides a real advantage over "they/them" because it's ambiguous whether "they/them" is singular or plural.

 

I don't see the ones like "cloudself" etc. ever catching on, but they're harmless at the end of the day. It would be misguided to blame neopronouns for homophobia/transphobia instead of its actual root cause (patriarchy).

I don't think neopronouns are to blame for transphobia per sey but they're definitely not making it any better. Lawmakers aren't going to be more staunchly anti-trans due to some 16 year old neurodivergent kid calling themselves sockself or princessself, but they're definitely adding fuel to the right-wing narrative that transgenderism is a social contagion instead of something caused by gender dysphoria.  

[jezebelvictoria]

He or she is all you get from me. 

[blackoutbaby]

Doesn't personally affect me as I've never met anyone irl that actually uses these, so I don't have an opinion.

[bielneira]

No thoughts.

[Illuminati]

I guess it's like gay tribes, I don't see them catching on outside of the nonbinary community. Cumbersome to outsiders but ultimately harmless

[Suilen]

AS a non-binary person, not my thing. I can get behind something like xe/xer, which feel like a genuine attempt to escape the linguistic conventions, but the provided examples seem outlandish and almost mocking. Maybe they could work in a post-gender society, but we're far from it.

[LovingDays]

I've honestly only seen them online. I have NEVER met a person irl who uses these. And honestly, I think they're only used in certain online circles. Once I started maturing and my interests started to change, it changed where I spent my time online, and I stopped seeing these as much. It also just so happened that most of the people in these circles were also very young adolescents (like I was at the time).

So in conclusion: I think that they're something you eventually grow out of. But I can't confirm since I didn't keep in touch with any of those people.

Spoiler

But I will never forget the set of pronouns that was 🎸/🎸s/🎸self 
I'm sorry, but that had to be satire, right? Maybe I just didn't catch it at the time

And I do agree that these aren't the root of homophobia, but, yeah, it's not exactly helping us when already homophobic and hateful people see queer kids referring to themselves as cat/catself

Edited yesterday at 07:56 PM by LovingDays

[John Slayne]

2 hours ago, Suilen said:

AS a non-binary person, not my thing. I can get behind something like xe/xer, which feel like a genuine attempt to escape the linguistic conventions, but the provided examples seem outlandish and almost mocking. Maybe they could work in a post-gender society, but we're far from it.

yea i've been to two universities in England and on a Pride committee in one city so i've met hundres of queer people and not once has someone introduced themselves to me as apple/apples. the only time i've heard ze/zir was when a lecturer was referring to someone from the past but that's it and i agree with you that it feels like a valid attempt to be outside of the current he/she/they triad which all have different connotations.

 

i don't think neopronouns are a real issue we should worry about it, i personally see it as younger people exploring their identities and creating subcultures, which is very normal and healthy for them to do. the far-right is trying to exploit this and turn it into a moral panic, but we shouldn't let them. this isn't harming anyone and is not worth the attention it's getting. this is a fake, manufactured outrage that only serves homophobes and transphobes 

Edited 23 hours ago by John Slayne

[YourFavoriteWeapon]

4 hours ago, LovingDays said:

I've honestly only seen them online. I have NEVER met a person irl who uses these. And honestly, I think they're only used in certain online circles. Once I started maturing and my interests started to change, it changed where I spent my time online, and I stopped seeing these as much. It also just so happened that most of the people in these circles were also very young adolescents (like I was at the time).

So in conclusion: I think that they're something you eventually grow out of. But I can't confirm since I didn't keep in touch with any of those people.

  Hide contents

But I will never forget the set of pronouns that was 🎸/🎸s/🎸self 
I'm sorry, but that had to be satire, right? Maybe I just didn't catch it at the time

And I do agree that these aren't the root of homophobia, but, yeah, it's not exactly helping us when already homophobic and hateful people see queer kids referring to themselves as cat/catself

Unfortunately it's very real, people are using emojis are pronouns  

[KatyPrismSpirit]

It's a concept that contradicts established language fundamentals and proficiency. I don't understand the urge to use neo-pronouns, other than a desire to be treated differently or to have society bend to individual preferences, regardless of practicality. But I guess this is something that exists in digital communities only. In my 20 something years on this planet I have never met someone that doesn't use he or she. 

[Subzero]

I get a lot of these people using them are kids in online circles but stuff like this makes a mockery of actual trans people just trying to live their normal day to day lives and should be ignored 

 

Like why are you out here trying to be identified as emojis & fruits... 

 

Payasos 

[Venice B]

5 hours ago, Khal said:

They're CIA psy-ops who exist to make trans/NB people seem annoying. 

My thoughts exactly like this is the only possible explanation  

[YourFavoriteWeapon]

2 hours ago, Subzero said:

I get a lot of these people using them are kids in online circles but stuff like this makes a mockery of actual trans people just trying to live their normal day to day lives and should be ignored 

 

Like why are you out here trying to be identified as emojis & fruits... 

 

Payasos 

It really does feel like a mockery. Trans people risk getting denied stuff like HRT, housing, or employment yet you have these children crying over not being called a duck or a cookie ijbol

[MP3]

I really don't care if people identify as female or male, I'll call you he or she, whatever please you, but you need to make a choice

[Gladiator]

I think people who use these just want to feel special and unique.

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Gladiator