Slack, Instagram, LinkedIn… all of them have their own take on making gender-neutral pronouns accessible. Zoom too has unveiled a “pronouns” feature. It’s a step forward as Zoom has been one of the most popular apps for video calls and meetings during the pandemic. Until the update arrived, users who care about gender-neutral pronouns had to manually edit their display names during a live meeting or had used their profile to reflect the same. But it’s not just another text field on any digital platform.

The personal pronoun, which is common, is a form of speech that stands in for a person or group of people. Nonbinary pronouns — the singular “they” and “them” — are also widespread. Then there are neo-pronouns or words created to serve as pronoun without talking about gender, like “ze/zie”.

Going beyond “he” or “she” is not new. The word “they” has been used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun (yes, there are critics who argue that “they” should only be used to refer to plural nouns) for long. It is featured in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Or in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park.

“As a gender neutral pronoun, ‘they’ has been useful for a long time,” Anne Curzan, English professor at the University of Michigan, has told The New York Times. Lately, more celebrities and college students are coming out as non-binary and asking fans and friends to use they/them instead of he/him. In 2019, Sam Smith took to Twitter to point out the same in an article by Associated Press. “My pronouns are they/them” the singer said on Twitter. A few weeks ago, Demi Lovato took to Twitter”: “I’ve had the revelation that I identify as nonbinary.” Moving forward, the singer identifies with the pronouns they/them.

Sam Smith

Demi Lovato

The prevalence of neo-pronouns is on the rise. A survey — conducted by Trevor Project, a non-profit dedicated to preventing suicide among queer and trans youth — from 2020 found that one-fourth of 40,000 LGBTQ respondents used non-binary pronouns while four per cent used neo-pronouns. But don’t just go by figures. A popular Twitch streamer, who goes by AndiVMG, apologised in February after joking that her pronouns were “bad/af”. In 1792, Scottish economist James Anderson proposed the dialect word “ou”.

Many who use neopronouns don’t just use one set and plenty of examples can be found on websites like Pronouny.xyz, like “si/hyr/hyr/hyrs/hyrself”. In case you want to read more on the topic, check out Dennis Baron’s book What’s Your Pronoun. Baron, English professor at the University of Illinois, has identified more than 200 gender-neutral pronouns proposed between the 19th century and the 1970s. For children, there is the recently-published What Are Your Words? by Katherine Locke. The book follows Ari and his non-binary uncle Lior.

As soon as President Joe Biden was sworn in, the White House website made an update to the contact form page to allow visitors to specify what pronouns they use. This is in contrast with what happened soon after Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration — the White House website removed a page dedicated to LGBTQ rights that was published during Obama’s tenure.

Adding pronouns to your digital profile is not difficult. For example, on Zoom when you add pronouns to your profile, they can be made visible to your Zoom contacts as part of your Zoom profile card in the Zoom desktop client and mobile app. “You can also choose when or if your pronouns are shown during a meeting that you host or join, or webinar that you are the host or panelist for. Webinar attendees’ pronouns are never visible.” Simply visit your profile page, hit the edit option and below your display name is the “pronouns” box.

Instagram too has added an option but it’s currently available in a few countries, “with plans for more”. And depending on an organisation’s settings, members may have the option to add their pronouns to their Slack profiles. Professional networking site LinkedIn has also started allowing users add their preferred gender pronouns to accounts in the US, Britain, Sweden, Canada and Ireland. According to a survey conducted in March by the Censuswide consultancy, hiring managers and job seekers showed strong approval for the inclusion of preferred pronouns on resumes.

Beyond the virtual world, organisations like Goldman Sachs, one of Wall Street’s oldest banks, in 2019 announced in a statement: “Proactively share your pronouns to foster an environment of respect and awareness (ex: ‘Hi, I’m Karen! My pronouns are she/hers. Welcome to the team!’).”

Some may wonder why using correct pronouns matter. If not anything, it is a way of showing respect and acknowledging someone’s identity.