Stating our personal pronouns is a way for instructors to build inclusivity and trust in the classroom and facilitate conversations about gender and privilege with students and colleagues. Sharing pronouns is good practice for everyone, even if you feel that you have a visible gender identity. It normalizes the practice of not making assumptions about gender based upon appearances. You can do this in a variety of ways:
- Adding them to your display name in virtual meetings
- Including them next to your name in e-mail signatures and syllabi (e.g., John Smith, they/them)
- Using them in introductions (“Hi, I’m John and I use he/him pronouns, my research explores…”)
Providing an opportunity for students to share their pronouns with others helps to avoid misgendering mistakes, which can lead to discomfort, embarrassment, or trauma. This is especially important since many governments and academic administration systems do not allow students easily update their personal information. However, you should never force someone to share their pronouns, as that may force them to choose between revealing a part of their identity they do not wish to share or misgendering themselves. When instructors model inclusive practices, many students will follow their example. If it is not safe to do this overtly, you can ask students to write how they wish to be addressed on a notecard instead.
In Canvas you can use the New Pronoun Feature: https://blogs.iu.edu/citl/2021/01/27/qtip-canvas-pronouns/#.YYGBINbMJUM
Adapted from NIST and MyPronoun.org https://www.mypronouns.org/what-and-why
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