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Positive Changes in the Use of Pronouns Implying the LGBT Community

Thi Bao Ngoc Nguyen

501072814

CMN 211: Language and Power

Professor Nathaniel Laywine

Wordcount: 1282
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Positive Changes in the Use of Pronouns Implying the LGBT Community

1. Introduction

In the promotional clip "Wonder of Us," Coca-Cola used the plural pronoun "them" to

refer to a person (Perez, 2018). Many people wonder the reason for this "language error",

others are aware of its humanistic meaning, and the rest feels empathy. The answer to this

issue is that Coca-Cola supported the LGBT community by using pronouns that did not imply

gender in the clip. It can be seen that, in one way or another, the world's use of pronouns is

changing along with human awareness. This paper applies definitions and events to prove

that improving awareness in using preferred gender pronouns implying the LGBT community

creates a better society.

2. Types of pronouns when mentioning genders

Pronouns are used to replace nouns denoting a person or object in a sentence to

avoid repetition. Based on many different functions, pronouns in English are classified into

the following main categories: Personal pronouns, Possessive pronoun, reflexive pronouns,

reflexive pronouns, and stressed pronouns. The purpose of using pronouns is to make a

sentence more concise and concise (MacIntyre, 2017). Therefore, language - in written or

oral form - is concretely and communicated to the audience. It is common to use pronouns to

refer to one or more people in all languages.

However, the use of pronouns is always dependent on the gender of the object in

question. While there are more than 2 recognized types of genders, pronouns are composed

only to refer to male or female. Gender pronouns are unilaterally determined by the speaker

through physical characteristics (Serano, 2013). In addition, sex determination also shows

gender bias in ancient human society. Even this discrimination in language aims to express

the rights difference between men and women. In the framework of this paper, the use of
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pronouns for the LGBT community will be considered. The expression of the sexes in the use

of pronouns indicates the defect of language. This caused a lot of controversial dilemmas

when talking about the LGBT community in the media. It cannot be denied that gender

pronouns reduced the influence and power of the language in the media.

3. The history of using gender pronouns and missgendering.

In the past, people could only use gender pronouns in communication due to cognitive

limitations. In many press releases and media, authors cannot find any kind of pronouns other

than male and female (Gustafsson Sendén, Sikström & Lindholm, 2014). If only male/female

pronouns are used, misgendering is more likely to occur. Many people are dissatisfied with

the gender that society imposes on them. They want to express themselves inherently.

However, it is very difficult for others to know their true gender based solely on their outside.

As a result, this gender confusion is called misgendering. In other words, the male-female

bipolar social ideology does not imply the existence of the LGBT community, so there are no

pronouns designed to address them. That's why misgendering extremely hurt and frustrate

them. This is a form of ignoring and denying the identity of people in the LGBT community.

Misgendering is a sign that the person they are talking about doesn't respect them. Thus,

misgendering has become a form of discrimination that reduces the impact of language on

communication as well as on mass media.

4. The positive changes in the use of pronouns implying genders

The changes of human awareness

Based on research by Katherin and Ruth, it can be found that transgender people or

the LGBT community frequently struggle to improve their gender identity (Fink & Palmer,

2020). The solution to this misgendering change is to improve awareness of society when

interacting with the LGBT community in everyday life and the media. Thanks to the efforts

of the community and LGBT advocates, many propaganda against gender discrimination
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have achieved great achievements. The popularity of the pronoun "they" is one of them. In

early 2020, "they" became a popular word alongside community hashtags like

#BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, #Climate (Zimmer, 2021).

Sam Smith, the pop singer, stated that he was of no gender in 2019. He wanted

people to use the pronoun "They/Them" to talk about him (Law, 2019). The leading

smartphone company, Apple, also released neutral emojis to show support for people in the

LGBT community. All of the above actions prove that the gender determination of pronouns

is completely unnecessary. The community and society must recognize LGBT groups with

full understanding. This change in gender determination when using pronouns today showed

that the improvement of social perception.

Nonbinary pronoun

Due to the increasing awareness of the use of pronouns referring to the LGBT

community, the term "nonbinary pronoun" is increasingly used. "Nonbinary" refers to the

absence of a society with only two parallel genders: male and female (Davidson, 2016). The

pronouns used to denote gender balance in language are "they/their/them". According to

English grammar, the pronoun "they" is still known as plural pronouns. But now the meaning

of "they" has become wider when it is used with the pronoun function of the genderless

singular to replace the words "he"or "she". This is especially meaningful for those who do not

want to clearly define their gender as male or female. In particular, when using nonbinary

pronouns, both the authors, journalists, and the LGBT community are satisfied.

Preferred gender pronoun

In the past, the use of "he/his" referring to someone of unknown gender was a norm

in languages. When community awareness is improved, people begin to respect genders. And

they don't judge, but choose to use the pronouns the other person wishes to be called. In
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addition to the nonbinary pronoun "they", the preferred remaining pronouns are called

"preferred gender pronouns" (Imborek et al., 2017).

To avoid using the word "his" to refer to people of unknown gender as before, some

people consider using the phrase "his or her" to ensure that both genders are mentioned.

However, the above expression is currently not used in gender equality language. The reason

is that the term above narrows the gender of the person in question, while many people

belong to the gender-non-dualistic group, and they do not consider themselves male or

female. The above option should be used only when the speaker has no other choice.

In response to the gender-neutral noun deficiencies of gender equality language,

many activists and scholars proposed new gender-neutral pronouns. In today's media, if

preparing in advance, editors often try to find out what pronoun by which people want to be

implied. That shows not only awareness of the community but also respect for the gender of

everyone in general.

5. Discussion: The impacts of these positive changes in society

The use of nonbinary and preferred gender pronouns sets the stage for gender equality

in the language. Since language is a creative product, it was changed by human perception.

The correlation between human perception and language equality has always been positively

developed. As society develops, human awareness is improved, language is also renewed.

Furthermore, reporters, editors, and advertisers were pioneers in the use of these new

pronouns. Therefore, they gave audiences and the community new ways to use pronouns to

show respect and understanding for the LGBT community. Accurate use of pronouns has

become an indispensable element in the gender equality movements for a better society.

6. Conclusion

In conclusion, people have used pronouns implying genders of others more

intentionally than before. This is to make sure the person mentioned feels appreciated. In
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many public speeches, gender pronouns have been restricted in use. Many people have been

aware of the need to change the use of pronouns to show respect for the LGBT community.

This ensures community connection and creates a better society.

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References

Davidson, S. (2016). Gender inequality: Nonbinary transgender people in the

workplace. Cogent Social Sciences, 2(1), 1236511. doi:
10.1080/23311886.2016.1236511
Fink, K., & Palmer, R. (2020). “We Have to Stand Out to Blend In”: Ordinary Transgender
People Speak About Being Subjects of News Stories. Journalism Studies, 21(8), 1109-
1126. doi: 10.1080/1461670x.2019.1699851
Gustafsson Sendén, M., Sikström, S., & Lindholm, T. (2014). “She” and “He” in News
Media Messages: Pronoun Use Reflects Gender Biases in Semantic Contexts. Sex
Roles, 72(1-2), 40-49. doi: 10.1007/s11199-014-0437-x
Katherine L. Imborek et al., K. (2017). Preferred Names, Preferred Pronouns, and Gender
Identity in the Electronic Medical Record and Laboratory Information System: Is
Pathology Ready?. Journal Of Pathology Informatics, 8(42).
Law, T. (2019). 'My Pronouns Are They/Them.' Singer Sam Smith Changes Pronouns to
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pronouns/
MacIntyre, R. (2017). The Use of Personal Pronouns in the Writing of Argumentative Essays
by EFL Writers. RELC Journal, 50(1), 6-19. doi: 10.1177/0033688217730139
Perez, L. (2018). Super Bowl: Coca-Cola Represents "Them" in Non-Binary Ad. Retrieved
from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/super-bowl-coca-cola-represents-binary-
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Serano, J. (2013). Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive (1st
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Zimmer, B. (2021). ‘They,’ the Singular Pronoun, Gets Popular. Retrieved from
https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-they-be-accepted-as-a-singular-pronoun-1428686651