In 2021, AI writing assistant Grammarly added support for neopronouns including xe/xem, ze/zir, ve/ver, and ney/nem. And things have significantly improved when it comes to neopronoun inclusion, too: The Oxford English Dictionary added the neopronouns "ze" and "thon" in 2018 and "hir" and "zir" in 2019. Neopronouns, however, are now primarily used by nonbinary people. It's used by many nonbinary people, though it does still have other uses for an unspecified singular referent. More recently, the singular "they" has enjoyed a broader acceptance, even in edited, published writing. Some newspapers and universities have also promoted the use of neopronouns: As described in linguist Dennis Baron's book What's Your Pronoun?: Beyond He and She, the Sacramento Bee used "hir" for almost 30 years starting in the 1920s, and Mississippi even entertained a bill proposed in 1922 to adopt the pronouns "hesh/hiser/himer" that failed by only one vote. Throughout history, neopronouns were even coined and pushed by state legislatures to clarify that laws should apply to any individual (whereas "generic he" can be read as applying only to men), she continues. Some people alternated between using 'she' and using 'he,' or consistently wrote out the longer phrase 'he or she.' Novel forms like 's/he' were used in the 1990s and early 2000s." "During the 1970s and '80s, perhaps related to second-wave feminism, 'generic she' was used by some writers. "From the mid-1600s, English language style guides also promoted the use of 'generic he' to include any single person in the third person of any gender," she explains. While most of those neopronouns fell out of use or have not been in continuous use-like "hesher" and "ze"-Bonikowski notes that people have been trying to tinker with pronouns to reflect gender neutrality for centuries. It was even added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 1934 but removed in 1961. For example, the neopronoun "thon" was a big one back in the day: "Thon"-short for "that one"-was introduced in 1858 and served as a singular, gender-neutral pronoun. The term "neopronoun" might sound foreign or like something that was just introduced, but neopronouns have actually been around since the mid-1800s, according to Bonikowski. "They often fit better with how I feel, and they're what you make of them! Are masculine? Are they feminine? Are they gender neutral? I don't care! It's up to me." "Neopronouns are fun!" one user wrote in a recent Reddit thread. Other neopronoun users say the decision to use them is rooted in fun and personalization. This is a privilege for me often universally used languages are rooted in the binary." "It's also really affirming to find the pronouns that are right for you even if they're private to you. "More recent neopronouns (new pronouns) have context within online subgroups created by trans/queer youth, creating shifts in ways subvert Western heteropatriarchy and binaries," xe tweeted. This sentiment is echoed by the musician Dua Saleh, who uses the pronouns xe/xyr/xim, in a series of tweets shared on Twitter. "Many pronouns have a lot of cultural assumptions attached to them, but since neopronouns have no inherent link to gender, they can disrupt assumptions someone is making about someone's gender," they explain. Jesse Kahn, LCSW-R, CST, certified sex therapist and director at the Gender & Sexuality Therapy Center, says one of those reasons is cultural. People use neopronouns for many different reasons. A 2020 Trevor Project study of 40,000 young members of the LGBTQ+ community found that while a full quarter of them use nonbinary pronouns of some sort, just 4% specifically used neopronouns. That said, using neopronouns is still relatively uncommon in the United States. For others, they help them express their unique gender identity to others." "For some people, these pronouns recognize both their masculine and feminine sides. "Neopronouns empower folks who feel different from the rest of the world to be true to themselves when all other pronouns and labels don't fit them," Graveris explains to mbg. While some people consider they/them/theirs pronouns as the go-to gender-neutral pronouns, they still limit individuals to three pronoun categories- he, she, or they. Common gender pronouns include she/her, he/him, and they/them, and then there are also neopronouns, such as ze/zir or fae/faer.Īccording to Dainis Graveris, a sex educator and founder of Sexual Alpha, neopronouns are a category of new pronouns that intentionally go beyond the traditional gender binary of masculine and feminine. They are the terms that individuals use to refer to themselves and to reflect their gender. Pronouns are a part of a person's gender. Before we explain neopronouns, let's talk about pronouns in general, specifically as they relate to gender.
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