Category: Bein’ Enby (Medium)

Respecting someone’s memory includes respecting their entire identity. Summer Taylor, who was nonbinary, was murdered during a BLM protest when a driver illegally entered a closed portion of I5 in Seattle, drove around a vehicular barricade, and sped into a crowd. Summer, like many nonbinary people, used “they” pronouns. Respecting their life fully includes respecting that fact….

A reflection. To be, or not to be, that is the question. I am a White person in a male body, 52 years old. I am married to a woman. I have a child, a stable job, and a home. I am so ordinary. I could live the rest of my life out with my head…

In this article, I will summarize the advice offered in modern style guides regarding the use of “they” in the singular. First, though, I’ll provide some background. Background I grew up on Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, which clearly forbids using “they” in the singular. In fact, for those cases where we don’t know…

Cisgender folks, we need to talk about language again. I’ll be talking about genitals, so some may consider this essay not safe for work (NSFW). The other day, I was writing a comparison between home-made face masks (low effectiveness against COVID-19) and penile condoms (high effectiveness against pregnancy and STD transfer). What struck me is…

I need to clarify something, because people still seem confused about this. Non-binary people are all younger, except the ones who are older. Children can be non-binary. So can retirees. A non-binary person has long hair. Unless we have short hair. Or we could have asymmetrical hair. Mohawks are nice. So are buzzcuts. Mullets, too….

First of all: Thank you for taking the time to read what follows. The visibility of non-binary people has dramatically increased in the last few years, and you may well feel overwhelmed with how to respond to this among your own students. However, studies have shown that when marginalized students feel respected, they feel safer and…

There are two pronoun discussions that are common in non-binary conversation spaces. One is obvious, but the other is not so obviously about pronouns. The first: “They/them” or other gender-neutral pronouns. While neopronouns like “zie/zim” and “xie/xem” are still used by some people, “they/them” seems to be the most common choice these days. The advantage: These aren’t new…

When I was a man, I had a lot of opinions that I presented as facts. I had a firm, detached, imperious voice with which I presented these facts. This is a voice I can still lean back on. I am well-trained in it. I hear it speaking when I read my “Gender Neutral: Author”…

I was responding on Facebook to an article about non-binary entertainer Indya Moore. The article, correctly identifying that Moore uses “they” pronouns, referred to them as an “actress”. My comment was that a gendered term ought not to be used with a non-binary entertainer (unless they specifically request it), and suggested “actor” instead. This led…

For the most part, English can be spoken and written without references gender, although there are cases where it sounds stiff. “Spouse” can replace “husband” and “wife”; “sibling” can replace “brother” and “sister”. There are a few problematic pairings, though. Among the most common of these are niece/nephew, aunt/uncle, and sir/ma’am. For niece/nephew, “nibling” is…