It's a good thing for Allies to do, as it normalizes the use of preferred pronouns in society and supports those who may need it more than others.
Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?
111–120 of 150 posts
Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?
#112Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I am not sure what risk you mean here and I struggle to see how a rational person can infer that I mean hatred when I introduce myself as "proactivesvcs", "Adam" or "Mr Piggott". I think that yes, everyone should feel that they can offer their pronouns, unsolicited, and I believe that we should encourage that this is an acceptable behaviour, since then eventually, it'll be something we don't even have to discuss. B…
I'm with you now. If we all open with pronouns, it speeds up the acceptance as a societal norm. I am not going to argue with you because I'm not sure there is much of an argument, heh, but I have a strong suspicion that if I were to have offered pronouns in the last say, 30 introductions I made in person, most of the other parties would be baffled, ask why, then may think they have to coach their language around me.…
> if I were to have offered pronouns in the last say, 30 introductions I made in person, most of the other parties would be baffled, ask why, then may think they have to coach their language around me.
This is exactly what we're trying to correct. And while you may (I'm assuming this is in reference to you) be able to weather the "ginger menace" remark, I'm not sure how well that translates elsewhere.
To wit: I once had a new friend call me a terrorist in a similar manner to the aforementioned "ginger menace" introduction after a few times of having met. That was the last time we spent time together.
I feel pretty odd using the phrase in quotes. Mind if I stop? I recognize it's probably not offensive to you, but I hesitate continuing to use it.
Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?
#114That is increasing, so we'll see how common that becomes.
There is a law in Canada that specifies about 85 pronouns. If you send email to Canada, you may need to support that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Act_to_amend_the_Canadian_H...
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/questions-and-answers-about-gender-...
This kind of navel-gazing happens when a society becomes soft and doesn't have more immediate problems. Rome fell this way.
Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm with you now. If we all open with pronouns, it speeds up the acceptance as a societal norm. I am not going to argue with you because I'm not sure there is much of an argument, heh, but I have a strong suspicion that if I were to have offered pronouns in the last say, 30 introductions I made in person, most of the other parties would be baffled, ask why, then may think they have to coach their language around me.…
I mean, you've basically nailed the challenge: > if I were to have offered pronouns in the last say, 30 introductions I made in person, most of the other parties would be baffled, ask why, then may think they have to coach their language around me. This is exactly what we're trying to correct. And while you may (I'm assuming this is in reference to you) be able to weather the "ginger menace" remark, I'm not sure how…
My use of this was to show that I take no offence at someone using one of my attributes as part of my identity.
Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, you've basically nailed the challenge: > if I were to have offered pronouns in the last say, 30 introductions I made in person, most of the other parties would be baffled, ask why, then may think they have to coach their language around me. This is exactly what we're trying to correct. And while you may (I'm assuming this is in reference to you) be able to weather the "ginger menace" remark, I'm not sure how…
Apologies for being a bit unclear. I have red hair, which in British colloquy is known as "ginger". Some take offence to the term, others revel in it as we love our hair colour. I am firmly in the latter camp and my some of my friends adopted the nickname I once gave to myself of "ginger menace" :-) My use of this was to show that I take no offence at someone using one of my attributes as part of my identity.
Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?
#117I work at a very left-leaning SV unicorn. Most people don’t advertise their pronouns, but quite a few do. I’m mildly peeved by this. To me the practice feels like taking off one’s lower body half garment to expose the genitalia. “See? This is my gender.” What difference does this make in a professional context? Our culture has put so much emphasis on treating all genders (or no gender) exactly the same: that was the…
I do agree that there is a lot of attention focused on use of pronouns at the moment though, which is why i posed the question to learn more about community opinion in the first place.
Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?
#118What does this mean in practice? Add what? Disclaimer: Not from US, not English speaking natively...
Email signatures would change from being Bob Jenkins - Cloud Services Developer to Bob Jenkins (she/her) - Cloud Services Developer This means that people writing about Bob don't assume that Bob is a particular gender, and helps them use the correct gender. It's a small effort to increase politeness.
Note edit: my native tongue Finnish doesn't even have gendered he/she. Quite an uncommon thing in languages.
Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?
#119It's not compulsory, but it's encouraged and the tools have been updated to make it easy to opt-in. It's a good thing for Allies to do, as it normalizes the use of preferred pronouns in society and supports those who may need it more than others.
As someone who's part of the LGBT community, "allyship" is dumb. I have friends, family and acquaintances.
I've got allies if I'm elbowing through trenches dodging gunfire.
What is this, Casablanca or Yalta?
Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?
#120I am from Georgia, (the country not state). My coworkers are generally LGBT neutral or friendly, never heard anything bad from anyone. I personally attend most pro-LGBT rallies. In our language, the Georgian language, there is just one pronoun for all genders, so we don't care. I personally consider enforcing others' choice of specific words in their speech a generally questionable practice.
That's a nice feature! As mentioned elsewhere, some languages (e.g. German) gender literally every noun, which makes it very complicated to adapt the language to these new conventions. English is comparatively lucky in that for the most part only pronouns are gendered. In English, gendered words for professions, like "actress," went out of fashion some time ago.