When people hear the term neopronoun or some of the lesser used third-person singular there is often a push back or even outright refusal to acknowledge their validity. The idea that someone has to use a pronoun outside of the typical he/him/his or she/her/hers (even using they/them/theirs is sometimes viewed under the neopronoun umbrella despite its age) can sometimes come off as that person wanting to be special or different from others simply to be special or different as opposed to finding a pronoun set that fits them when others do not. Because of this, I’ve decided to go through a few of the most common questions I deal with on a fairly common basis in my work.
Please note that I do not have a complete list of neopronouns as there is no fully definitive list due to the personal relationship with these pronouns. This is a very 101 approach, providing a starting place for this topic and will include links that some people might find “less valid” than others such as Wikipedia’s entry (which is a great jumping off point for further study.
So, what is a neopronoun?
Per mypronouns.org: “The term “neopronouns” tends to refer to pronoun sets developed from the 20th century (or sometimes 19th century) to today. Many of them are actually not that new.” These are third-person pronouns in the same vein of he/him/his…
