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Comment by howinteresting | Hacker News Reader

That seems like a good thing for the trans and nonbinary employees at your former workplace.

Its probably also good for people with gender identity within the traditional binary who have names that don’t have obvious and correct gender loading in the culture of the individuals who might be addressing them. (Even if there are photos in profiles, people can also have androgynous or non-gender-stereotypical appearance without trans or nonbinary identity.)

Why is this getting downvoted?

This is a legitimate issue, and I'm not even the political/social-justice type.

(I don't mean the company forcing putting pronouns in your username, but for trans/non-binary people to put it in their profile name)

Had an instance at a job once where someone joined, I spoke with them and they were really nice + helpful. Maybe 2 months later, I went looking for them and they didn't seem to be at the company anymore.

Turns out they had changed their username to another gender along with profile pic, now used a different pronoun.

I felt like an ass when I read back to intros and learned that they didn't prefer the pronouns their name/pic implied when they joined. Quite literally "assumed their gender" and they never corrected me about it. Hope it didn't bug them, but it probably did.

I've heard from more than one transgendered person that passed that they felt that it outs them as transgendered to go around labeling pronouns.

Many people, including those who are not transgendered, are also uncomfortable with being forced to hyper-identify with their gender. For many their gender is just a small aspect of them, and especially in a professional context where their gender has no role being forced to put on a gender-show feels sexually invasive.

If everyone shared their pronouns than trans people wouldn't be singled out. Besides, the primary beneficiaries are trans people who don't "pass", including nonbinary people like myself for whom "passing" is an invalid concept.

Listing your pronouns isn't hyper-identifying with your gender, it is merely identifying your pronouns so that other people don't get them wrong. Gender is complex territory that goes much deeper than pronouns.

> I've heard from more than one transgendered person that passed that they felt that it outs them as transgendered to go around labeling pronouns.

One reason for encouraging general pronoun labeling is to alleviate that exact concern.

It's a motivation people have, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it could achieve that goal. Another perspective is that bringing gender to the front and center will cause people to question the gender of people they're interacting with in situations where its completely irrelevant.

Oh I'm totally against forced pronoun labeling, if you read my other reply in this thread.

I'm just saying that the general concept of it if you're trans/non-binary (and WANT a particular pronoun used) is helpful for people who otherwise wouldn't know.

I think it's become commonplace enough that people don't jump to the conclusion you're trans/non-binary if you put a pronoun next to your username.

  > Many people, including those who are not transgendered, are also uncomfortable with being forced to hyper-identify with their gender.

Preaching to the choir, my partner is intergender but biologically female/female-presenting. I like to think I have at least some degree of understanding.

> (and WANT a particular pronoun used) is helpful

I think when you want something you should ask for it, for sure!

> my partner is intergender but biologically female/female-presenting

Out of curiosity, would that make you bisexual?

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