The “Hey Guys” Dilemma
The 21st century educator thinks from the planes of diversity, intellectual currents that extend beyond national affiliations to connect with the very composite of humanity: that every individual has value and deserves to live a healthy life.
They employ the study of diversity and equity through balanced historical interpretations, inclusive teaching subjects and the rejection of educating from a singular box of hegemonic values. 21st century educators utilize technology to bridge cultural, political and geographical constraints, to bring students around the world into the same space of conversation.
Many times, these innovative lessons, structured and designed with an open intellect, immersed into the classroom with a trepidation of hope and aspirations to inspire the next generation into peaceful habitations, these days begins with, “Hi guys! Let’s begin.”
Gender as an “Interactional Achievement”
Perhaps the moment would be fleeting, the students craning their necks, unaware of the gender-specific pronoun, the irrefutable conflation, the lesson could begin, and mastery could be made. But what about the observant, details-oriented student amongst the fray that paid attention to the makeup of discourse, the individualized words and the non-verbal cues associated with the tone of such words? The purpose of this article is to shed light on the self-perceptions of these students, and how the 21st century educator must be in-tune to all facets of their teaching, modeling, and motivating. They do not what to corrupt the entire positive focus of their lesson planning, simply because of their language that both excludes and reinforces the frame of living they desire to teach past. Truthfully, students do notice these things.
The tide of gender perceptions has shifted, and 21st century educators teach about gender from the perception that gender is not ‘fixed,’ in that, gender is in actuality a ‘social construct.’ Gender can be a deceiving categorizing device in which many individuals associate biological sex –male and female- with a range of characteristics encompassed by the words masculine and feminine. Educators must expose these naturally assumed structures of language, and emphasize the need for context in determining how people use language. In “Teaching Language and Gender,” Jane Sunderland and Joan Swann articulate gender as an “interactional achievement - something that may be performed (or negotiated and perhaps contested) in specific ways in different contexts.”[i] Gender does not solely affect and influence language constructs, rather, language constructs can dangerously affect how we perceive men and women within society.
The Need for Gender Neutral Pronouns
Singular gender-neutral third-person pronouns should be employed within the classroom in order to demonstrate the utmost of establishing an inclusive environment. Conventionally, the third-person pronoun commonly used is “he” which excludes the female students, and most especially, students transitioning between gender affiliations. There is also many undertones and historical currents that can be translated from the dominating use of ‘he,’ but the focus of this article is to expose the existence of gender-neutral pronouns and how they can be employed in the classroom. Sexual orientation is a sensitive matter, one that has become forefront in conversations within our societies. Transforming language conventions to include a neutral pronoun that is neither male nor female specific is the first step in promoting a fully inclusive 21st century classroom.
Gender Neutral Pronouns (Teach about them, Display them, Use them)
There are accessible and smooth transitory neutral nominative pronouns that educators can begin plugging into their vocabulary immediately. For example, in situations of singular contexts employ, ‘it,’ and in the plural situations utilize, ‘we,’ ‘us,’ ‘ours,’ ‘you,’ yours,’ ‘they,’ ‘them,’ and ‘theirs.’ When addressing your classroom in general, be creative: “Good morning folks, my Grade 8s, young scholars," are all strong examples that are used in real classroom settings.
For those educators who desire to delve further into this topic, there are more creative classifications of gender neutral pronouns that very much inspire students today. It takes several moments to wrap current understandings around these classifications, but once thought through, they are quite brilliant.
Ne/ Nem/ Nir, Nirs/ Nemself
This neutral pronoun set follows the formats of existing pronouns while staying more gender-neutral. 'Ne' is n+(he or she), 'nem' is n+her+him, 'nir”'is n+him+her. These pronouns do not lean towards following male or female patterns. The letter 'n' itself can stand for “neutral” – the ultimate intellectual current we are searching for. [ii]
Ve/Ver/Vis/Verself
'Ve' is another strong option without a specific bias towards either gender. The declension, again, is gender-balanced, with an evenly split between forms that resemble “he” and “she.” It does feel, however, more gender-heavy than 'ne' because 'ver' and 'vis' directly derive from 'her' and 'his,' which directly echo of the gender specific forms.[iii]
Spivak (ey/em/eir/eirs/eirself)
Spivak is the primary gender-free pronoun set in the English palette because of its derivations from ‘they’ as opposed to ‘he,’ and ‘she.’ Essentially, speakers remove the ‘th’ from the ‘they’ singular and plural pronoun structure. Although creative, this neutral pronoun set also echoes of masculine and feminine understandings with examples like ‘em,’ which sounds like ‘him.’ A strong attempt but no full victory of transition.
Ze/Hir and its derivatives
‘Ze’ and ‘hir’ are the most common forms of gender-free pronouns. The current forms persist in leaning towards feminine phonetics.
Xe/Xem/Xyr/Xyrs/Xemself
Educators pronounce ‘Xe’ the same as ‘ze’ because ‘Xe’ was an aesthetic change in order to distance the pronoun from its ‘sie/hir’ roots. There continue to be similar pronunciation problems that are similar to gender specific pronoun sounds, another strong attempt, but no smooth transition.
What we are Left With
Gender-neutral pronouns align to a lifestyle of diversity and inclusiveness. However, existing gender-neutral pronoun sets still have much adaptations and transformations to undertake. Transitioning into such language patterns will be difficult and tedious, but rewarding for identity constructs and the self-perceptions of your students. Many of the neutral pronouns sets are fascinating for discussions and to provide context for many lesson plans, but starting out small and being aware of your language as an educator is the first accessible step to take in securing an empathetic discourse. Acknowledging your choice of vocabulary and how it could possibly affect others is the most important change of all.
[i] Jane Sunderland and Joan Swann, “Teaching language and gender,” LLAS Centre for languages, 2012, http://www.llas.ac.uk/resources/gpg/2827
[ii] Anonymous, “The Need for a Gender-Neutral Pronoun,” Gender Neutral Pronoun Blog, 2010, http://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/the-need-for-a-gender-neutral-pronoun/#comments
[iii] Anonymous, “The Need for a Gender-Neutral Pronoun,” Gender Neutral Pronoun Blog, 2010, http://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/the-need-for-a-gender-neutral-pronoun/#comments
