I had to look up what a pronoun was.
I was an English major in college. So I should know.
The definition totally confused me.
Webster says that a personal pronoun is a pronoun that expresses a distinction of person. Whatever that means.
Definitions from other sources were equally obtuse.
In today’s world, you need to know what your gender pronoun is.
My husband and I were with a group of young artists discussing their work and it’s relevance in their community. Before we started we went around the table and gave our pronoun. I was ready. I was a she/her. My husband was confused. Three at the table were “they”.
Which is a good thing.
The American Dialect Society chose “they” as the word of 2015. Defining it as “gender-neutral singular pronoun for a known person, as a non-binary identifier”.
It still sounds plural to me. Not that I mind being a plural.
Gender fluid is a mix of boy/girl. Some days you may feel more boy. Some days more girl. But it doesn’t have anything to do with sexual orientation or what organs are under the hood. It’s what you’re in the mood for.
Gender neutral is slightly different. It refers to supporting and enforcing the idea of a gender-neutral society. That we should avoid giving roles to genders and sexes in schools. The workplace. In society. The blue/pink thing.
There are articles on raising a gender-neutral child. Retailers for gender-neutral clothing. Nike has a gender-neutral section on it’s website. Target removed all gender labels from its clothes and toys.
Sweden has a number of gender-neutral preschools. Toys are not divided into traditional gender camps. Baby strollers mingle freely with trucks and wooden blocks. Dump trucks haul beaded jewelry. A bionic robot wears a tutu.
Megan Markle and Harry are going to raise their new baby in a gender-neutral way. The queen seems ok with it. Angelina Jolie, Kate Hudson and Celine Dion are already leading this trend over here. In fact, Celine Dion has put her money where her values are. She’s launched a new gender-neutral clothing line, Celinununu, with a video showing her entering a hospital and magically changing all the pink and blue outfits into black and white. And then getting arrested.
Studies have been done on gender-neutral environments finding the kids socially adjusted and more open to different kinds of opportunities and therefore better primed for success as adults. Behavior and self-esteem improved significantly in both sexes.
So I have a feeling the gender-neutral thing is here to stay.
And I think it’s good.
Gender neutral. Gender fluid. Pan gender. Gender nonconforming. I’m there.
Too much damage has been done slotting us into into a blue or pink path.
It’s time for a little purple rain to wash it all away.
