Respecting pronouns is basic human decency, not ideology
Dr Helen Webberley on Heretics: the gender debate, with Andrew Gold, Heretics
Using someone's chosen pronouns is a political statement, an ideological concession, or something you should only do if you personally agree with their identity. The thinking goes: if you have doubts, you are entitled to use whatever pronouns you prefer.
Using someone's chosen pronouns is not a political act. It is the same basic courtesy as getting someone's name right. I have spoken with thousands and thousands of transgender people, and what I hear again and again is how much it costs them when people refuse, and how little it costs the person doing the refusing. The claim that detransitioners outnumber or outweigh that experience does not hold up: "countless" is not a number, and the people I have actually listened to, in their thousands, tell a very different story. Respect does not require agreement. It just requires a little humanity.
More from this conversation
