Politics California To Have Harsher Penalty For Pronoun Violations Than For Knowingly Spreading HIV

lmao how much a sociopath do you have to be to deny someone basic respect because you have to think for half a second before opening your mouth

 

I still call him Austin. I catch myself saying Doug every time. It is annoying.

 

He could have changed his last name and nobody that's known him for years would have to overcome their rote memory EVERY time you talk to him.

 

So how is that different than using someone's preferred pronouns?

Like, it's difficult sometimes, especially in a rapid-fire conversation. I sometimes slip up, but I've never met someone who got offended over a mistake.

But refusing to even try? That's just shitty.

 

I'm not even slightly inconvenienced. I don't know anyone that uses they. I'm saying they need to pick something else. By they, I mean the group of people that want to use the word they for something different than it was intended.

I wonder if they (still the group here) picked they so they (still the group here) would see how far we (not just me but society as a whole) were willing to go.

 

Haven't had to try. If I meet someone who asks me to call them they I will tell them exactly what I'm saying here. I'll even ask if they (seems normal here) want me to think of a better word. Something cooler and not hard to keep track of.

Maybe I'll even ask my sister to explain it to me. She's not Transgender but being married to a woman she knows more about this than I do. Maybe she'll be able to explain why they want they.

 

"They" has been used as a singular pronoun for a subject whose sex is unknown for centuries. The disconnect most people have is that it's usually only used to refer to someone who is not present. So, it's really not that big of a jump to use it as you normally would as a gender neutral singular pronoun, but for someone who IS present. In the grand scheme of language evolution, it's a minuscule semantic shift, and the rewards of making that change outweigh the minor mental gymnastics required to get used to it. (Unless you're a god-fearing real American and not some shitlib cuck, of course.)

I'm not going to speak for people whose pronoun is "they," but I think part of the push to use it is because it's already used as a gender neutral singular pronoun, and it's easier for normies to accept it than something like "zhe".

 

Hmm, good info. Still not a big deal anyway. Maybe I'll start calling cis males they to get used to it and see who gets offended.

 

Yeah they was something non-binary folks started choosing precisely because it isn’t some new made up word; it was supposed to make things easier on the others in their lives.

 

At an individual level it wears on you; but stuff like what I mentioned with the ridiculous penalty? That works on a higher level... it erodes goodwill or acceptance we’ve worked hard to gain. It makes us a punchline in a joke we didn’t tell. Instead of just getting misgendered, there might be a super clever joke like “oops I mean SSSHHHHEEEEE, don’t want to go to jail if you get mad and snitch on me” that tags along for the ride. It normalizes not taking us seriously.

I mean, look: trans people who are accepted by family and friends have a normal suicide rate of 4%. Those who don’t get this acceptance have a suicide rate of 58%. Acceptance is kind of important. People who misgender trans people on purpose because of whatever reason contribute to this. Maybe a stranger glaring at you and making the sign of the cross doesn’t affect you very much, but if it’s your brother misgender if you because they will just never get used to it and don’t want to try? That might contribute a bit more.

 

If that happened to me I'd develop a god complex.

 

That's so disturbing.

 

I got a couple of great jokes on tumblr out of it, so whatever.

 

Spoken like a true libertarian. Unfortunately, individuals exist in the context of their friends, family, and culture. "Fuck em" isn't always an option.

 

If I saw them praying "for" you I might start praying for them

 

I'd just make spooky fingers and say "there's no GoooOOOOooodd OOOOoooooOOOoooh!"

 

Get some of those crazy eye contact lenses that look like demons and sneak them in and stare at them.

 

I was thinking about setting my jacket on fire and screaming "what have you done?!" at them