What is your name?
On The Importance of Pronouns
It is a question that lets us add another star in the galaxy of our being. They could be names of films that catch our eyes as the algorithm knows us better, names of flavors that harmonize with the creams at your local coffee shop, or names of people that have their own galaxies of their own being as well.
Our names are the first piece of our identity we offer to other people’s hands, so they could keep it safe, and hopefully, not break them. The second piece? Our pronouns. When our names slide off the radar for a few clock ticks, our pronouns hover to take its place. In the mainstream of issues that flow in our society’s consciousness, the conversations of pronouns have not yet made its mark to awareness. Truly, there are a lot of loose cogs we have yet to fix to make our progress as a society faster, and even though pronouns may be a smaller cog than others, it’s still worth a check-up.
Assuming is easy. It’s an internal battle you win for yourself. No discomfort, no mistakes, just assumptions. That should not always be the case. As newer times introduce us to a platform for vessels of uniqueness free from shame, new friends take the shape of different colors, beliefs, and even identities. When we see a woman dressed by the checklist of society’s standards, it may be possible that the woman goes by “he” and “him.” Through an assuming lens, the woman is a she and a her. That lens should be covered and thrown away. Misgendering a person — the act of using the wrong pronouns in addressing a person — is probably just a fumble of your words, but to those affected, it can crumble their identity they spent a long time building.
Asking is easy as well. When we ask, it is a statement that tells others that pronouns do not follow a criterion, that it is not only black and white. When introducing ourselves, and we include our pronouns just among our hobbies, age, and where we came from, it sends the message to others that it is worth telling, it is something we state for ourselves, and not for others to assume.
In our little quarantine bubbles, typing in your pronouns in your Twitter bios can help the society’s pool of identity become a little clearer and bigger. It can also be seen as a supporting hand to the transgender community — when at most times, they change their pronouns that reflect their truest self — because we are aware that aspects of our gender is not a water body that flows in one direction, it is a galaxy we make up for ourselves.
