Syracuse University has some folx who feel unheard.
According to The College Fix, MySlice is a portal that allows students to connect with each other. But according to an article in student-run The Daily Orange, the system’s far too cisgender.
“As an incoming freshman,” the writer of the piece recalls, “the part of college I was most looking forward to was using this new environment to fully come out as agender, using they/she pronouns.”
Throughout the college admissions process I had experienced, SU has been a consistent school that emphasized itself as a safe place for LGBTQIA+ students.
“Within two days,” however, the author was “disillusioned.”
This semester I was in six classes, five of which were seminar-sized. Only one professor asked me to describe myself with my pronouns.
But, even so, the hope rose:
My disappointment was cured when my First-Year seminar professor told us about MySlice’s setting that allows students to use their favorite pronouns. Finally, there was a way for me to be sure my pronouns are known and respected.
The enrollee “found the pronoun tool” and expanded its menu.
The list is incomplete, which was a shame.
It only allowed for “he/him,” “she/her,” “they/them,” and “ze/hir.” Otherwise, there were merely “Use My Name” and “Ask Me.”
A brief moment ago, I believed that the menu might allow me to choose more than one option. But, this was quickly disproven.
Holy grail. Wherefore art Thou?
It was impossible to find the tool I believed would lead me to inclusion and respect in my classes.
Syracuse has fallen behind:
Even though mixed pronouns have been around for a while, they are still very common. Many students from SU use mixed pronouns. They have some common experiences with this issue and feel the same.
One attendee indicated he/they now feels “a bit less seen.” “I was surprised at how few options there were,” he/they said.
One student even questions her/his validity
“I feel very invalidated. … Sometimes I feel that I will never be able to present and be seen as genderqueer. To me, it cements the idea that I must be certain in my gender, or that gender expansiveness is unprofessional.”
Then there’s the added bonus:
These students…expressed that very few, if any, professors have asked for their pronouns. The 2022 class member who used they/he/ze pronouns stated that one professor asked them to share pronouns. It was similar for the other students.
It’s an increasingly sophisticated era. As far as I can tell, this gender revitalizion is the first instance of post-segregation America where people intentionally make interaction more complicated.
How are we to keep up with everyone’s extra names, i.e., their chosen pronouns? It’s a whole different data set to store.
The options available are endless.
Not long ago, “she/her” and “he/him” got some company:
- Co, co, cos, cos, coself
- En, en, ens, ens, enself
- Ey, em, eir, eirs, emself
- Xie. hir. hir. hirs. hirself
- Yo, yo, yos, yos, yoself
- Ze, zir, zir, zirs, zirself
- Ve, vis. ver. ver. ver. ver. myself
You may also know of “noun-self pronouns,” such as bun/bunself,” “kitten/kittenself,” “prin/cess/princesself,” and “innit/innits/innitself.”
Per LGBTQ+ Wiki, we now welcome “emojiself pronouns”:
They are only used online but could be converted into everyday words to use in daily life. For example, 🍄/🍄self pronouns might become shroom/shroomself or mushroom/mushroomself pronouns.
Advanced users can also use this:
Modifying Pronouns
One possible type of neopronouns that is always changing between pronoun and pronoun, such as:
“When she goes to the market he will grab the milk, then the eggs and then some tomatoes and ve will pay for all of the groceries.”
In the past, sex was all that separated us; there was no such thing as “identity.” As I’ve previously posed, people didn’t walk around thinking, “I am a boy.” Neither did they walk around contemplating, “I am a girl.” Nor did they walk around telling themselves, “I am a catself.”
Rather, they just…walked around.
As for being “seen,” such seems to me an internet-lathered idea.
For anyone aching for affirmation from their screen: You don’t exist because you’re on electronic display. Put away your smartphone and turn off the computer. Take off the Apple Watch. Enter the woods.
That’s as webwide “seen” as any of us were naturally meant to be.
Or perhaps I’m massively mistaken. Either way, if Syracuse wants to compete and impress, it’s going to have to catch up to the modern man/woman/other — and respect vers mushroomself.
-ALEX
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