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AndyZhengFirstEssay 2 - 01 Mar 2024 - Main.AndyZheng
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted. | |
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< | Paper Title: Acceptance of Pronouns | >
> | Paper Title: The Paradox of Progress in Pronouns | | | -- By AndyZheng - 23 Feb 2024 | |
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< | Societal resistance to using individuals’ preferred pronouns both stem from ignorance and the limits and glacial pace of progress in society. Before interacting closely with trans and non-binary folks like J, I viewed pronouns as things given by society, just like names given by parents, both nothing more than an identifier. This view is shared by many others, where individuals assume others’ gender and preferred pronouns by the way they present themselves. Meeting gender non-binary individuals like J began challenging my view of pronouns, allowing me to see the ignorance towards pronouns as the tool of indoctrination to view gender as a binary. However, I must reconcile my interest in advocating for the dignity of transgender and non-binary individuals with the natural constraints of society and language, making the path towards shifting our views of pronouns murky and unlikely. | >
> | Section I: The Duality of Language | | | | |
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< | Section I: Pitch for using proper pronouns
“Neutrality in the face of oppression is choosing the side of the oppressor.” That quote prompted me to scrutinize my biases. While I saw a mental shortcut to assume someone’s gender as a binary, I unwittingly invalidated J’s identity. I realized my ignorance towards pronouns was rooted in colonialism. One way colonizers dehumanized people was through effacing their history. Immigrants coming to the U.S. were denied the spelling of their surnames for an Anglicized version, and slaves in America were denied their surnames completely. In each instance, what was denied is more than an epithet, but humanity, memory, and history. Revoking the opportunity for transgender and non-binary individuals to label themselves is rooted in the colonialist ideology of assimilation, to force those individuals to ignore their own identity. | >
> | Language is expansive and enables precise communication. Part of language is synthesizing an individual’s essence into a noun. When we say “Beyoncé,” we summon a general image of a pop star in the collective psyche of individuals we are communicating with. Rather than describing all of someone’s essence, a name stands in the place for their accomplishments, personality, and history. While the specific details about Beyoncé that each person knows may differ, there is a collective image associated with the name that fulfills the purpose of communication. This is helpful to convey large amounts of information in a short period of time. Series of carefully chosen words can be strung together to deliver ideas and thoughts that would be difficult to express without language. Thus, language is a useful tool for expressing complex thoughts and feelings using prescribed words that have concrete meanings. | | | | |
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< | On the flip side, colonizers attach arbitrary labels to subordinate them. Puerto Ricans continue to not have all the rights of a citizen of the U.S. because of their label as a n unincorporated territory, Native Americans continue to have their rights to form contracts denied because of their presumed status as “domestic dependent nations.” Transgender folks are also forced labels on them for the presumed rationale of the convenience of language or even society’s denial of their existence. | >
> | Language is also restrictive. We use language to express our thoughts, but we are simultaneously confined by language in our expression. When we describe a person as “she,” we inherently trigger each individual’s understanding of what a “she” should be. Through internalizing a large volume of data, and being told how to label each person we see as “she” or “he,” we each develop a paradigm that quickly and mostly accurately identifies individuals into one of the two buckets. Over time, our understanding of language becomes solidified. Rather than being fed information, we begin to predict information from what we see. We start to predict that the individual of shorter stature, long hair, lack of facial hair, and larger pelvis would be labeled as “she.” The problem is that the label is not necessarily reflective of how others think about themselves. | | | | |
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< | I learned the importance of decolonizing my language to protect trans and non-binary people — humans who deserve dignity. As we continue to make assumptions regarding people’s pronouns, what we reaffirm is the history of insensitivity committed towards trans folks. We tell these folks that their self-identity is mistaken, their memory of using their pronoun is unacceptable, and the history of trans and non-binary folks is irrelevant. Complacency becomes more than a neutral error: It is the perpetuation of the language of colonization and discrimination. | >
> | Section II: Language in the context of Pronouns | | | | |
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< | Section II: Reasonable resistance to pronouns | >
> | This restrictive understanding of pronouns rob an individual’s ability and opportunity to identify themselves. For many people, pronouns are words that ascribe various external characteristics onto individuals. For someone to be described as “she,” she likely has various feminine features like a softer jawline or the lack of facial hair. However, this exteriority takes away the ability for individuals to express their humanity and interiority. When individuals incorrectly assume someone’s pronouns, it is considered “misgendering.” However, more than a mismatch in label, misgendering someone forces a label on them for the presumed rationale of the convenience of language. In exchange for the convenience of language, society has erased the ability for pronouns to describe the interiority, which causes a key aspect of someone’s life to be ignored. | | | | |
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< | However, the call to decolonize our language directly conflicts with the more rigid societal context of language. One key reason for language is to clearly associate an idea or concept with a word. It is difficult for someone to see a person who presents as Taylor Swift and refer to her with any pronoun other than she/her/hers. Taylor possesses many traits we associate with femininity, which naturally links Taylor to she pronouns. If Taylor demands to be called by he/him/his pronouns, it would be difficult for individuals to conform their paradigm of language to that because we’ve collectively created a paradigm of what “she” and “he” means. Ultimately, language offers a shortcut to communicate. The mentioning of a term immediately triggers various associations with it that enlivens that word in our mind. “Taylor Swift” is associated with ideas like singer, woman, pop star, entrepreneur, talented, songwriter. All of these associations are helpful for understanding the “meaning” of Taylor Swift. Similarly, the pronouns “he” is associated with a set of traits that would be inconsistent with “Taylor Swift.” | >
> | Language does not and should not live in a vacuum. It changes over time with ideas and conventions. What people think about when someone says “fashion” is different today than the U.S. a century ago. What constitutes “fundamental right” of bodily autonomy to abortion is no longer the case today. Similarly, gender and sexuality has the capacity to change with language. Rather than assuming “she” refers to someone who is traditionally feminine, language can adapt to a more progressive understanding of pronouns as a respectful shorthand to refer to individuals and their interiority. | | | | |
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< | Section III: The context of progress | >
> | Section III: Moving Forward | | | | |
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< | Nevertheless, language does not live in a vacuum. It changes over time with ideas and conventions. What people think about when someone says “fashion” is different today than the U.S. a century ago. What constitutes “fundamental right” of bodily autonomy to abortion is no longer the case today. Similarly, gender and sexuality has the capacity to change with language. Rather than assuming “she” refers to someone who is traditionally feminine, language can adapt to a more progressive understanding of pronouns as a respectful shorthand to refer to individuals. | >
> | One pathway to evolving our understanding of language is to create misunderstanding and encourage empathy. When individuals continue to be reaffirmed in their language that their prediction about someone’s gender identity is foolproof, their paradigm of pronouns will continue to solidify in opposition to exceptions to their rules. To do so, individuals must occasionally be shown that their initial presumption of someone’s pronouns are wrong. On one hand, it requires individuals to be bold enough to see the possibility of using pronouns that society may not automatically prescribe to them. On the other hand, people must also be receptive to the proposition that something that they’ve established as a paradigm can be wrong. | | | Progress is glacial and nonlinear. It would be unreasonable to expect that transgender and non-binary individuals will have their pronouns respected overnight. However, the requirements for progress is clear. We must simultaneously change the way we understand pronouns as well as broaden our underlying conception of gender and sexuality. Just as meanings of words evolve overtime, our conception of pronouns must be abstracted from its roots of strict classification of individuals in a binary. We also must broaden our conception of gender and sexuality to consist of a complex spectrum of identities. However, this ask is almost as impossible as uprooting the machineries of society today. All I can expect is a continuous tug of war between the status quo and progress. Hopefully, one day, our conceptions of pronouns will change and we can respect each other simply as human. |
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AndyZhengFirstEssay 1 - 23 Feb 2024 - Main.AndyZheng
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted.
Paper Title: Acceptance of Pronouns
-- By AndyZheng - 23 Feb 2024
Societal resistance to using individuals’ preferred pronouns both stem from ignorance and the limits and glacial pace of progress in society. Before interacting closely with trans and non-binary folks like J, I viewed pronouns as things given by society, just like names given by parents, both nothing more than an identifier. This view is shared by many others, where individuals assume others’ gender and preferred pronouns by the way they present themselves. Meeting gender non-binary individuals like J began challenging my view of pronouns, allowing me to see the ignorance towards pronouns as the tool of indoctrination to view gender as a binary. However, I must reconcile my interest in advocating for the dignity of transgender and non-binary individuals with the natural constraints of society and language, making the path towards shifting our views of pronouns murky and unlikely.
Section I: Pitch for using proper pronouns
“Neutrality in the face of oppression is choosing the side of the oppressor.” That quote prompted me to scrutinize my biases. While I saw a mental shortcut to assume someone’s gender as a binary, I unwittingly invalidated J’s identity. I realized my ignorance towards pronouns was rooted in colonialism. One way colonizers dehumanized people was through effacing their history. Immigrants coming to the U.S. were denied the spelling of their surnames for an Anglicized version, and slaves in America were denied their surnames completely. In each instance, what was denied is more than an epithet, but humanity, memory, and history. Revoking the opportunity for transgender and non-binary individuals to label themselves is rooted in the colonialist ideology of assimilation, to force those individuals to ignore their own identity.
On the flip side, colonizers attach arbitrary labels to subordinate them. Puerto Ricans continue to not have all the rights of a citizen of the U.S. because of their label as a n unincorporated territory, Native Americans continue to have their rights to form contracts denied because of their presumed status as “domestic dependent nations.” Transgender folks are also forced labels on them for the presumed rationale of the convenience of language or even society’s denial of their existence.
I learned the importance of decolonizing my language to protect trans and non-binary people — humans who deserve dignity. As we continue to make assumptions regarding people’s pronouns, what we reaffirm is the history of insensitivity committed towards trans folks. We tell these folks that their self-identity is mistaken, their memory of using their pronoun is unacceptable, and the history of trans and non-binary folks is irrelevant. Complacency becomes more than a neutral error: It is the perpetuation of the language of colonization and discrimination.
Section II: Reasonable resistance to pronouns
However, the call to decolonize our language directly conflicts with the more rigid societal context of language. One key reason for language is to clearly associate an idea or concept with a word. It is difficult for someone to see a person who presents as Taylor Swift and refer to her with any pronoun other than she/her/hers. Taylor possesses many traits we associate with femininity, which naturally links Taylor to she pronouns. If Taylor demands to be called by he/him/his pronouns, it would be difficult for individuals to conform their paradigm of language to that because we’ve collectively created a paradigm of what “she” and “he” means. Ultimately, language offers a shortcut to communicate. The mentioning of a term immediately triggers various associations with it that enlivens that word in our mind. “Taylor Swift” is associated with ideas like singer, woman, pop star, entrepreneur, talented, songwriter. All of these associations are helpful for understanding the “meaning” of Taylor Swift. Similarly, the pronouns “he” is associated with a set of traits that would be inconsistent with “Taylor Swift.”
Section III: The context of progress
Nevertheless, language does not live in a vacuum. It changes over time with ideas and conventions. What people think about when someone says “fashion” is different today than the U.S. a century ago. What constitutes “fundamental right” of bodily autonomy to abortion is no longer the case today. Similarly, gender and sexuality has the capacity to change with language. Rather than assuming “she” refers to someone who is traditionally feminine, language can adapt to a more progressive understanding of pronouns as a respectful shorthand to refer to individuals.
Progress is glacial and nonlinear. It would be unreasonable to expect that transgender and non-binary individuals will have their pronouns respected overnight. However, the requirements for progress is clear. We must simultaneously change the way we understand pronouns as well as broaden our underlying conception of gender and sexuality. Just as meanings of words evolve overtime, our conception of pronouns must be abstracted from its roots of strict classification of individuals in a binary. We also must broaden our conception of gender and sexuality to consist of a complex spectrum of identities. However, this ask is almost as impossible as uprooting the machineries of society today. All I can expect is a continuous tug of war between the status quo and progress. Hopefully, one day, our conceptions of pronouns will change and we can respect each other simply as human.
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