Good Morning

The Hill I'm willing to die on today is the erasure of the phrase "preferred pronouns".

Over the past few weeks I was flung from small town (city) Oklahoma, into a media whirlwind. There were a lot of questions that were asked frequently. 1/10

1 question that continues to stick out is 'what are my "preferred pronouns"' - whether they mean do I prefer 'they' over 'she', or if they haven't researched & don't know what my pronouns are.

They are just pronouns, Not preferred 2/10

The variation of pronouns (i.e. She/her(s)) happens because in different areas of writing you will need to refer to someone in different forms (Sub., Pos., & Obj.)*. When we find out what pronouns someone used we switch through the forms accordingly. 3/10

*Subject, Posessive, Object.

My pronouns are They/She and the respective variations in form. 4/10

A writing example:

'Mauree Turner is the first non-binary person to be elected to a state level position. They have spent their life fighting for equitable access to civil rights and liberties. Lately she's been kicking it with the TikTok kids.' 5/10

*Still really cool!?*

When asking for 'preferred pronouns' a couple of things are happening:
1: Saying it's okay to erase part of someone's identity to get a story to air

As writers, folks lending their platform, this should never be the case. It's your job to educate yourself to be better. 6/10

2: The creation of a space that suggest there's something else you can call us by, other than our pronouns.

You have consent to use the pronouns that are given. Always got with enthusiastic consent. 7/10

This is all in addition to the fact that the singular 'they' has been something we have used in grammar for centuries. 8/10 https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/singular-nonbinary-they

It was literally @MerriamWebster's word of the year in 2019 (which I know feels like centuries ago, itself, but in actuality it was just last year). 9/10 https://twitter.com/NPR/status/1204876530314297346?s=19

All in all: it's okay to use They & She & Xe & so forth in the same article.

I heavily encourage journalists to also care about the folks they are interviewing, not just the article they need to write. It's okay to continue your education outside of the classroom, loves
10/10

If you feel like contributing to politicians who keep these things in mind when thinking about policy you can donate here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mauree 

***Also, I'm coming from a place of not only being on the receiving end of these interviews, but also be a journalist for a brief period of time.

I'm not a professional linguist, I just know what it feels like to not have my pronouns and my story honored, but still told.

Being* a journalist.

Hence it being very brief. Lol