People from all over the world will be invited to raise gender visibility through online and local affirmative actions towards a non-binary notion of gender on Oct. 21. Registration has started already.

International Pronouns Day is a global initiative that understands referring to people by the pronouns they determine for themselves is basic to human dignity.

“To establish a sense of equality, a simple pronoun round could be the start of affirmative actions of equality,” says Adam D., coordinator of workshop operations in the Math Department at Simon Fraser University.

The project began in 2018 and takes place on the third Wednesday of October. Individuals and groups will participate in activities that they determine at the local level, visiting the official website (pronounsday.org), registering and choosing affirmative actions that work best for regional contexts.

Adam D., coordinator of workshop operations in the Math Department at Simon Fraser University. | Photo courtesy of SFU

On Oct. 21, when users will be invited to share the hashtag #PronounsDay, people will have the opportunity to reexamine their assumptions about pronouns beyond those typically associated with the gender binary. To Adam D., it’s a time to educate others that pronouns don’t specify gender (and vice versa), that gender is not rigid, and that these gender expressions are valid.

“I don’t assume someone’s name, and once I know their name, I don’t intentionally misname them. The same should go for the pronouns they use. If you’ve grown up and lived your entire life assuming pronouns based on visual appearance and your own notions of gender then this is obviously much harder to do when you’re confronted with a statement to the contrary,” he says.

The day allows parties interested in participating by making content to inform local media and different communities, organizing an event, workshop, social, or meet n’ greet, distributing materials that help to educate or raise visibility, or organizing good practices for trans and non-binary inclusion on their school, campus or workplace.

Well-being in collective environments: educating is essential for change

In 2000, queer theorist and activist Paul Preciado published the Countersexual Manifesto, his doctoral dissertation in continental philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York. In its conclusion, the philosopher foresaw a society where people would experience gender and sexuality in opposition to binary experiences of oppression and control.

Twenty years later, it is already possible to recognize multiple pedagogic actions that aim to educate about gender ethics and radical equality. One of these actions is the International Pronouns Day.

An open text from the organization of the event points out that being referred to by the wrong pronouns particularly affects transgender and gender nonconforming people. The International Pronouns Days is one of the ways of transforming society to celebrate people’s multiple and intersecting identities.

“The linguistic statement is an acknowledgment and a reminder that these pronouns in our language are as valid as the people they represent. It’s a show of visibility and solidarity, especially for and with those who are not in a place to express themselves comfortably,” says Adam D. “And it’s a counter-statement to the continued denial of their existence, especially when these denials are written into legislation and used as a weapon globally. Gender is made political when those rights are stripped away and will continue to be political until it’s a nonissue.”

He also argues that the problem of genderphobia is a health issue. A safe and healthy environment (schools, universities, workplaces) should be inclusive of everyone; otherwise, participants can’t get fully involved, because they are not seen or respected.

Organizations in Vancouver, such as Simon Fraser University, already have internal policies to create an inclusive social environment by supporting the declaration of self-identified pronouns. SFU even presents a digital Pronoun Etiquette Cheat Sheet under the Well-being in Learning Environments project, material that Adam D. organized.

Still, events like the International Pronouns Day indicate that some people still experience genderphobia. The problem runs through different generations and social spaces, being more prevalent when people are less accustomed to the changing notions of gender and are unwilling to change their thinking. Organizers see the day as an opportunity to decolonize the notion of gender and help to affirm the necessity of better forms of co-existence.

For more information, please visit www.pronounsday.org.