Member-only story
If Not ‘They’, Why Not ‘Ze’?
You say we need a new pronoun but don’t ‘like’ the ones we already made.
“It’s not grammatically correct”
“Every dictionary reiterating ‘They’ as a singular pronoun is just pandering”
“Maybe those that aren’t male or female need a new pronoun”
Spoiler alert, we already have new pronouns. All sorts of them to choose from! But no one knows about them and how they would be practically used in society to refer to Nonbinary folks. Or worse, they refuse to acknowledge them, brushing them off as the same or worse than ‘They’. Confusing, complicated and even annoying, they say.
Now, these are typically thoughts expressed by cisgender folks, and thus they don’t know how demoralizing it can be to defend the only pronouns you feel comfortable with people using when everyone thinks it’s “Not correct for English” and “Too hard” to use. This understandably makes nonbinary folks upset and we think that someone just can’t be bothered to make the effort to respect us.
Now, it is important to reiterate that not all Nonbinary folks use neutral pronouns. Some still stick with the pronoun they grew up with, and some go to the other…
