![]() ![]() “Personally, as a nonbinary person, I use they/them pronouns because I am outside of the binary genders,” Elliot shares. So, Leigh explains, if someone’s identity does not conform to the gender binary, they/them/their pronouns can be an alternative to he/him/his or she/her/hers pronouns. Although some folks who do not identify as nonbinary might use they/them pronouns, too. They might identify as nonbinary, genderqueer, agender, bigender, or genderfluid. They might feel connected with some aspects of the binaries or none at all. Why do people use they/them pronouns?įolks who identify outside the gender binary, a cultural or societal structure that classifies gender into two opposite forms (male and female), might use they/them pronouns. Different cultures have different gender systems as well, which means that the experiences written ahead are not directly comparable to everyone. It’s important to note that everyone’s journey is different, and the experiences of Leigh, Rae, Elliot, and Alejandro do not equate to the entire LGBTQ+ community. It’s normal for questions to surface as you want to better understand their identity and their experience.īelow, Leigh Thomas, Rae Sweet (they/them), Education Coordinator at the It Gets Better Project, and two of It Gets Better’s 2022 Youth Voices, Elliot (they/them) and Alejandro Isabella (him/her), spoke with Seventeen to break down and help unpack the answers to common questions about they/them pronouns and nonbinary identity. You may have read about a celebrity whose opened up about their nonbinary identity, such as Bella Ramsey, Amandla Stenberg, or Sam Smith. Maybe a friend, family member, or classmate came out as nonbinary or genderfluid, and/or shared with you that they use they/them pronouns, or multiple sets of pronouns. That’s part of the freedom of non-binary identity - we don’t necessarily have to define ourselves by two options, the that are seen as the default.” I think gender is much more three, or four-dimensional than the two-dimensional spectrum. “Here, people occupy different corners of space in their own world. “Some people believe that gender is more like a galaxy, or a solar system,” they continue. “That’s not necessarily true for how everyone views gender because at the end of the day, that spectrum is still defined by the things that are on either end - man and woman.” “There’s this idea that gender is a spectrum and that on one side is men, on the other side is women, and nonbinary people are somewhere in the middle,” Leigh Thomas (they/them), Director of Communications at the National Center for Transgender Equality/NCTE Action Fund, explains. Rather, a blend of the binary pronouns (he/him/his or she/her/hers), the gender-neutral pronoun they/them/their, a couple or all three sets of pronouns, or neopronouns (such as ze/hir/hirs and ey/em/eirs) better represent their gender identity. Pronouns carry significant meaning, and are a crucial marker of one’s sense of self, especially for nonbinary, gender non-conforming, and transgender folks, whose identities do not exclusively fit into either of the gender binaries - male or female. ![]() You probably learned about them in elementary and grade school, and likely more recently, explored their impact in conversations about gender identity. Linguistically speaking, pronouns are substitutes for nouns or noun phrases, and are the words we use to refer to someone in the third person. ![]()
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