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Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?

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Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?

#31

Post by clearcarbon »

I am a white cis male. Normalising the statement of preferred pronouns is very important for people who's gender identity differs from their assigned sex at birth. I state my pronouns on both my social media and work emails.

Your statement of being "LGBT / neutral" seems strange to me, being neutral on whether other human beings should have the same rights I enjoy does not seem to be something I can be neutral on. I accept that myself and others with privilege must help create a more equal society for everyone, even in the relatively small changes such as stating our pronouns.

Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?

#32

Post by proactivesvcs »

webo wrote: post #26

I’ve seen this forced at larger companies and Universities. I’m neutral on the topic of stating pronouns — could somebody with more knowledge explain the difference between including pronouns and age/sex/race/religion/ethnicity? From my understanding, usage of pronouns is about not making any assumptions and being inclusive. So I’m just not sure what or where the line is.

Unless they are specific to how we are likely to interact, sex, race, religion and ethnicity aren't relevant to how I address you, nor how you prefer to be addressed, I would assume.

Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?

#34

Post by ecmascript »

HenryBemis wrote: post #24
ecmascript wrote: post #5

Wow that is amazing. > How widespread this is across industry? Not very widespread. > Do you think this is a good/bad initiative? Extremely bad initiative. It would seriously make me question whether or not I would want to stay at that employer. Of course I wouldn't set any pronouns and refuse it if they required it. I am eagerly waiting for the ultra left-leaning HN crowd to downvote me to oblivion!

Hanlon's razor: "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity". This could be someone in HR trying to refurbish everyone's signature (so there is a common template etc.) and to make this pass in HR hierarchy may have suggested to "hey let's add the Mr/Ms". One simple complaint in HR can remove this "bulletpoint" from the "signature agenda" without raising hell.

Since many left leaning individuals make a point of using pronouns I don't think that is the case here, even if it could be.

Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?

#35

Post by sk5t »

ceejayoz wrote: post #21
hoka-one-one wrote: post #13

I work in tech, not politics

"Tech isn't political" is itself a political stance. (And a hard to support one, IMO.)

Agreed, if one's stance is to prohibit discussion in furtherance of the status quo, that's as political as anything else. Kneeling during the national anthem or trying to stop people from kneeling, same/same.

Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?

#36

Post by TameAntelope »

justaman wrote: post #2

No and I wouldn't if they asked. I don't think gender has any bearing on how one performs their job and to promote such a thing could do more harm than good. When I see someone with their pronouns on twitter I usually don't engage with them. People who do this more often than not tend to make everything about gender politics where it would otherwise be irrelevant.

Do you think gender has a bearing on how one feels about oneself, and does one's self image have an impact on their performance?

Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?

#37

Post by kube-system »

byoung2 wrote: post #7

My company encourages everyone to create an "operating manual" that includes things like preferred pronouns. Not required at all, but helpful to avoid missteps. Since the pronoun movement I've found myself avoiding pronouns altogether. For example instead of "team, welcome Jane. She is our new lead designer. She previously worked at acme corp" I would say "team, welcome our new lead designer Jane who previously worke…

This 100% is the best solution that doesn’t offend anyone. English also has a number of gender natural pronouns that work fine. They/them/y’all/everyone have worked well for me.

The more I think about it, the more I think gendered pronouns are kind of archaic. Why do I need to mention someone’s gender in half of my sentences about them anyway? It seems pretty irrelevant, especially in a professional setting.

Re: Ask HN: Does your employer want you to state pronouns in email signature?

#39

Post by pX3q54Q55945w7E »

I 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 right thing to do. Then why should we be wallowing in who has what and how they use it? It’s an irrelevant distraction. Do the job, go home, and be whatever you want.
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