New rule: if you support transgender people or are trans, please change your username (if your instance allows it) to include your preferred pronouns
If you have no preferred pronouns, just say (none) or something
This will help make people feel more comfortable in this comm and has a side effect of showing you support trans people when making comments in other communities. It will also make reactionaries seethe and make it easier for mods to purge them, and make trans people feel safer all over the fediverse.
So in other words, people who are still eggs, closeted trans people who have an identifiable account and similar groups now have to misgender themselves, which is a much more horrific thing than getting misgendered by someone else.
Requiring people to state their pronouns is unironically a transphobic policy! Creating an environment in which not stating pronouns can be taken as not supporting trans people is likewise transphobic. The practical consequences of these decisions are extremely bad and I strongly request that you undo it!
Our instance mandated pronouns years ago. They also mass banned concern trolling posts like this one in the ensuing struggle session. We are better off for it.
🤡 take. if you don't want to share your pronouns, unsure or use name are both fine. it doesn't out you or misgender you. this is debate nonsense to try to discredit a policy that is definitively helpful for trans people
If they have a practical concern with this they can say something like (use name) (unsure) (any) after their username. Just to verify, are you trans yourself? This is common practice in basically every trans space.
Requiring people to state their pronouns is unironically a transphobic policy!
No, it's not.
closeted trans people who have an identifiable account and similar groups now have to misgender themselves, which is a much more horrific thing than getting misgendered by someone else.
I would suggest they create a new account for exploring these feelings in trans spaces, then. Its more secure to do that anyways. He/him is the assumed choice in most internet spaces which misgenders a wide swathe of trans people, of course I would prefer it to be they/them, as its better if you don't know pronouns. The reality though is we need to implement these things in steps so people can properly understand why its important to use they/them when you don't know someone's gender. I still get regularly misgendered with she/her in my name, these people that purposefully misgender must be removed from this space to make it safer, and by having more people with pronouns in username, it will make that job easier.
If they have a practical concern with this they can say something like (use name) (unsure) (any) after their username. Just to verify, are you trans yourself? This is common practice in basically every trans space.
Yes, and that is WHY I’m so vocal about it, because I have experience with environments where the choice really was to misgender myself or to risk looking like a biggot. It sucked and that
Requiring people to state their pronouns is unironically a transphobic policy!
No, it’s not.
It forces trans people who are early in their transition and eggs to pick between two really bad options. That makes it functionally (not intentionally) transphobic.
closeted trans people who have an identifiable account and similar groups now have to misgender themselves, which is a much more horrific thing than getting misgendered by someone else.
I would suggest they create a new account for exploring these feelings in trans spaces, then. Its more secure to do that anyways.
A big point of something like Lemmy is that you don’t need separate accounts in all the communities that you are in and trans communities should put the bar low for people who are looking to explore things. It may not always be the safest thing to do, but reality is messy and people who are just kinda uncomfortable with what they have may still be far away from understanding.
He/him is the assumed choice in most internet spaces which misgenders a wide swathe of trans people, of course I would prefer it to be they/them, as its better if you don’t know the person’s pronouns. The reality though is we need to implement these things in steps so people can properly understand why its important to use they/them when you don’t know someone’s gender. I still get regularly misgendered with she/her in my name, these people that purposefully misgender must be removed from this space to make it safer, and by having more people with pronouns in username, it will make that job easier.
Nobody says you can’t have your pronouns in your username if you want them too, but forcing other people to do the same is really reaching into other people’s personal zone to an extend that I do consider inappropriate.
what is the difference between putting (unsure) or (any) and just not having them? you would still basically have to ask or assume you picked the right one.
on a side note, making "requirements" to be trans is a slippery slope, and nobody should have to prove, or our themselves, just by existing and participating in the world.
and why should it matter if I know I'm interacting with a trans person? why can't we all just treat each other with respect, and if we want to find out more about each other individually we can just ask?
and while your solution of "just make another account" could work for some it simply won't work for all
Although I'm a cis woman, I have never felt especially pleased with being lumped into this category. I have never listed my pronouns before, ever, and I avoid listing my gender if possible, because I do not want the first thing people to know about me be my gender and then view me through that lens. I have always appreciated the trans community overlooks my femaleness and sees me instead. In real life daily, to my great displeasure I am lumped into one of two boxes; the internet is a welcome reprieve.
I am not nonbinary, I do not prefer they/them. I go by she/her, but I don't want to advertise this. I have my own struggles with gender, even if I'm ultimately cis, and forcing me to report my gender in my username seems frankly gender essentialist.
I did not choose my pronouns.
What should I write? (none) is wrong, because I can be referred to with pronouns.
(ally) might be nice, except in LGBTIA+, "Ally" implies being straight, and I'm not straight.
How about an empty ()? to indicate I acknowledge the system but opt out personally. Or something cute like (friend), or comrade (but I don't know all the implications of that)
an empty () is completely valid, imo. or even (friend) or (ally) or (any) or something. i definitely would recommend discussing with yor, she could probably help explain why this is a rule, but i get you.
"use name," I infer, is "jsomae was talking about jsomae's day and mentioned jsomae saw a..." sort of thing. I would rather be assumed male than this. (Though if others prefer this for themselves, I approve in that case)
You can be a she/her NB btw. If you feel a disconnect with your gender or don't feel connected to it, you're free to consider yourself trans.
Anyways, I don't see any problem with avoiding pronouns. Personally, I used to be in that camp - I wanted to be supportive of trans people, but I didn't want to list he/him, but didn't think I was trans enough to use other pronouns... So I just did not put them.
(ally) might be nice, except in LGBTIA+, "Ally" implies being straight, and I'm not straight.
This could be interpreted as aro/ace erasure/exclusion btw by putting the word "Ally" so close to the acronym.
Aro/ace are valid and are LGBTIA+. What I mean is, "ally" implies straight, and I'm not.
Gender is a spectrum, and I consider myself cis, even if there are others more cis than me. Most of my troubles with gender come from me feeling society is at fault for treating me differently because of my sex. I think most educated women express such opinions, and that doesn't make us enbies.
Looking at this thread and thinking about the long, laborious work our transgender mods are doing and will have to continue doing to clean this place up respect.
The issue is people have to click your name to see it, if its in your ID people can see it immediately. lowers risk for misgendering and people can see what you prefer at a glance. also, at a glance, people will know you support trans people
why do people in general need to know this at a glance? Can they not tell by the content of my posts that I support trans people? I thought this rule was to help mods make quick judgments.
This is unenfoceable and you can see in your own headline why. Why call it a rule? is this a reference to Bill Maher? if so, please stop referencing that loathsome removed, he does not deserve your time of day in any way, shape or form.
I know I have it in my bio, because I am in agreement with it since before you made it a rule.
Your own headline says that not all instances have this as an option. That makes it unenforceable for those instances. It is also unenforceable for anyone wandering in from a main page, because they won't be reading this rule before posting. And then sure you can delete their post I guess but what if it wasn't transphobic?
And if you don't know Bill Maher, good. Just know that he is a ghoul and loves to say 'new rule' and then spout the worst take you have heard in your life on a weekly basis.
I know I have it in my bio, because I am in agreement with it since before you made it a rule.
Your own headline says that not all instances have this as an option. That makes it unenforceable for those instances. It is also unenforceable for anyone wandering in from a main page, because they won't be reading this rule before posting. And then sure you can delete their post I guess but what if it wasn't transphobic?
And if you don't know Bill Maher, good. Just know that he is a ghoul and loves to say 'new rule' and then spout the worst take you have heard in your life on a weekly basis.
I know I have it in my bio, because I am in agreement with it since before you made it a rule.
Your own headline says that not all instances have this as an option. That makes it unenforceable for those instances. It is also unenforceable for anyone wandering in from a main page, because they won't be reading this rule before posting. And then sure you can delete their post I guess but what if it wasn't transphobic?
And if you don't know Bill Maher, good. Just know that he is a ghoul and loves to say 'new rule' and then spout the worst take you have heard in your life on a weekly basis.
This is completely enforceable, the only instance I know of that doesn't allow changing your display name is Hexbear and that's cuz we use that field for displaying pronouns lol
I didn't even notice you could alter your display name like this. Almost a year here and somehow missed this feature.
EDIT:
And apparently its only working on my blahaj.zone account (lol how appropriate)
my beehaw account is not letting me update the name
and my fedia account, which uses mbin doesn't even have it as an option
you can change your username? but i like my username the way it is. so if i did this, i'd be like, juliebean_she_her_her_hers_herself@lemm.ee? bit of a mouthful, innit?
The displayed username is different from the internal one. Im mathemachristian@lemm.ee but once i figure out how to do this it will display me as mathemachristian (he/him)@lemm.ee but internally refer to me still as mathemachristian@lemm.ee
edit: got my accounts mixed up but the point is the same
huh, okay, today i learned. now that you've mentioned it i do see your display name if i click through to your user page, but not on your posts/comments, and idk how to change mine, but if other folks can see that, i'll look into it if i see a way.
I understand the sentiment and would respect the decision, even if I don't agree, but there are problems of consistency. You say people should make new accounts if necessary to explore their trans identity, but you'll allow instance wide exemptions.
It would be nice if proper support for pronouns was added in the first place, but that's also clearly not going to become a priority unless people openly demand it, so here we are with an inconsistent compromise.
Pretty much every IRL trans space I've ever been in has started with name + pronouns, it's not a big ask and it normalizes being respectful of other people.
Sorry, I didn't want to make a bad faith argument, but I think it's necessary to clarify the issue.
The exemption will allow bigots from those instances to still have access and the benefit of doubt. People who might have valid reasons to not disclose openly their position will have to create a new account.
If pronouns are a safety measure, there's a big flaw in making exemptions. Will the users know the people they are talking are not marked because they can't be.
Just a thought. Maybe make it a required opener or signature.
You might have to login on desktop, I'm not familiar with solar punk (and if people mention their instance doesnt allow name changes i'll make a tally of instances that dont and are exempt) but if you go to your settings usually it will have an editable text box for your display name
Suggestions for when it becomes too long? Would ♂ work? I have 4 extra characters to work with.
With the standard length being 24 characters " [he/him]" would reduce it to 15 characters, " [she/her]" to 14 and " [they/them]" to 12 characters, which is really short for a username imo.