You may have noticed that adding pronouns to your bio has become almost common practice on social media nowadays.
Initially, declaring your pronouns was seen as taboo because it meant that you weren’t cisgender or that you did so because you were susceptible to being misgendered. Many of us are guilty of this thinking as well.
Some terms that are important to understand:
Cisgender: a person whose personal and gender identity corresponds with their sex at birth.
Misgendering: the act of using incorrect pronouns or labels to identify someone.
Many cisgender people believe that there is no reason to put their pronouns in their bio because it’s “easy to tell what their gender is,” but there is no definite way of identifying someone’s gender! The truth is, it doesn’t matter whether you’re perceived as gender-conforming or not—we all have pronouns! We should all make it clear how we would like to be addressed.
Expressing your preferred pronouns is the same as introducing your name when you first meet someone so they know what to call you. To prevent others from misgendering you, the best thing you can do for yourself is to be upfront about your preferred pronouns.
Not only do you benefit by putting your pronouns in your bio, but doing so as a cisgender person helps people in the LGBTQIA2+ community. The more people that normalize displaying their preferred pronouns, the safer an environment we can create for people who are LGBTQIA2+. By doing so, we also prevent them from feeling isolated in being open about their boundaries.
Adding your pronouns to your bio as a cisgender individual is one of the easiest ways to make it clear that you’re an ally and to foster a safe space for others! Including pronouns in your bio is beneficial in and of itself, so why not include them when there’s no harm in doing so? Hopefully, you consider why you should state your pronouns and consider adding them to your bio as well.
Perhaps you don’t want to put your pronouns in your bio—and that’s totally OK! Choosing whether or not to include your pronouns in your bio doesn’t make you any more or less of an ally—it simply helps normalize the declaration of preferred pronouns and allows others to address you correctly.