My pronouns are:
Example usage in sentences:
- I think xe is very nice.
- I met xem recently.
- Is this xyr dog?
- Xe told me that the house is xyrs.
- Xe said xe would rather do it xemself.
Table:
| Subject | Object | Possessive determiner | Possessive pronoun | Reflexive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xe | xem | xyr | xyrs | xemself |
Examples from cultural texts:
Neopronoun “xe/xem” (xe/xem)
Amethyst Liddell – Pokémon Reborn (fan game) , 2013 ; Adrienn Flores is a nonbinary character who uses xe/xem/xyr pronouns.
- “Cain: "So then for pronouns.."
Adrienn: "Xe/xem/xyr will be fine in place of, for instance, he/him/his."”
- “Cain: "So then for pronouns.."
EnbyMo – Poki's Lokis (a mod for Stardew Valley) , 2023
- “Adds a shopkeeper to the Cindersap Forest, west of the Hat Mouse, named Poki. (Poki uses xe/xem/xyr/xyrs/xemself pronouns. Xe is friends with the Hat Mouse. You cannot talk to xem, xe is just a map tile at the moment, but I may be making xem into an NPC in 1.6.) Xe sells various seeds and recipes. Compatible with SVE, Stardew Reimagined 3, and Cape Stardew. Xe is not an alien, xe just uses neopronouns. Also xe dyes xyr hair differently each season.”
Inti Creates – Azure Striker Gunvolt, 2015
- “Xe leads a team of hunters.
We tried engaging xem, but xe fled to the rooftops of sinner's row.”
- “Xe leads a team of hunters.
Alex Bollinger – Could this new more inclusive flag replace the rainbow flag? (LGBTQNation.com) , 2018 ; Daniel Quasar was the designer of the progress pride flag.
- “Xe said that xe was inspired to design the new flag when the Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs displayed a version of the rainbow flag with brown and black stripes to represent people of color.
“I felt there needed to be more thought put into the design and emphasis of the flag to give it more meaning,” xe wrote on Facebook.” - “Xe is trying to raise $14,000 on KickStarter, mostly to produce nylon flags that are three feet wide and five feet long. Xe has received almost $3000 so far.
Quasar identifies as a “queer non-binary demiguy” and prefers xe/xem/xyr pronouns.”
- “Xe said that xe was inspired to design the new flag when the Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs displayed a version of the rainbow flag with brown and black stripes to represent people of color.
J. Blackburn, K. Gottschewski, Elsa George, and Niki L. – A discussion about Theory of Mind: From an Autistic Perspective (from Autism Europe's Congress) , 2000 ; (2019 reprint in “Autonomy, the Critical Journal of Interdisciplinary Autism Studies” Vol. 1 No. 6)
- “And if you see that someone has some abilities which are totally inexplicable and like magic to you, it can easily look like xe would be able to do and know everything.”
- “Of course the nature of knowledge or logic depends on xyr experience, reasoning ability, environment, object of current perseveration and fixation, and so on.”
Jim Sinclair – If you could choose… (archived from the original) , 1992
- “I wouldn't want to miss out on knowing such a person just because xe happened to be the “wrong” sex.”
Ashley Shuttleworth – A cruel and fated light, 2022
- “Very long and lean and disturbingly wraithlike with xis too-sharp features, golden-starlight shimmering skin, ivy-green hair, and eyes that were all electric iris and no pupil at all. Arlo didn't need the distinct tone of rotting in xis aura or the black cloak xe wore to tell her xe was one of the Wild Hunt. But xe was so young--goodness, xe had to be younger than her, even, at least in appearance.”
Emery Lee – Meet Cute Diary, 2021 ; Devin, a character from the book, uses both e/em and xe/xem pronouns
Artur Nowrot – Dragon Child (#EnbyLife. Journal for Non-Binary & Gender-Diverse Creatives.) , 2021
- “If you don’t behave, the dragon will get you, people used to say to Yare. Whenever xe was too loud, got carried away during playtime, did not eat something xe was supposed to, when xe didn’t pay xer elders the respect they felt they were owed. Later, when xe struggled with the learning and tasks xe was assigned, when xe wasn’t fast or strong or clever enough, the other children would taunt, Dragon Child! Dragon Child!”
- “The dragon came quickly. There was a rustle, a swoop, a blow of air, and there drae stood, towering above Yare, iridescent. The dragon looked at Yare, narrowed draer eyes, sizing xer up. Imagine if drae rejected the offering! Please, take me, dragon. Don’t make me more of a failure then I already am.”
- “When drae found out the truth, drae took the child with draem. And kept draer eye on the villagers. Until gradually the custom shifted and people started giving their children to the dragon. Drae took everyone in.””
Neopronoun “ze/zir” (ze/zir)
One Day at a Time (Season 2, Episode 3: "To Zir, With Love") , 2018
- “I'm Margaux. Pronouns "ze" and "zir".”
Teenage Bounty Hunters (Season 1, Episode 7) , 2020
- “–"In an autocracy, when the despot is down, it's every person for herself."
–"Zirself."
–"Zirself."”
- “–"In an autocracy, when the despot is down, it's every person for herself."
Ella Braidwood – The Chinese transgender choir who’re singing for acceptance (PinkNews) , 2019
- “Yuran, now 31, came out as trans in 2015 and started buying testosterone online. The Trans Chorus singer had struggled with zir gender identity growing up.”
Charlie Jane Andrews – Because Change Was the Ocean and We Lived by Her Mercy, 2017 ; uses the spelling "zi" instead of "ze"
- “Juya had these big bright eyes that laughed when the rest of zir face was stone serious, and strong tentative hands to hold me in place as zi tied me to the car seat with fronds of algae. I had never felt as safe and dangerous as when I crossed the wasteland with Juya.”
Erica Cameron – Pax Novis, 2019
- “Breaths hitched in zir chest, blocked by the lump in zir throat, and ze felt zir eyes widen. Ze didn't have training in keeping zir thoughts hidden behind an emotionless mask. What ze knew had been learned from cycles as a station rat and all the times zir life had depended on how well ze told a lie. ”
Neopronoun “ae” / “æ” (ae/aer)
Allison Forsyth – How the Pandemic Upended the Life of Sarasota’s College Students (Sarasota Magazine) , 2021
- “Online classes were foreign to Krasny, save for a random driver’s ed course ae took in high school. During lockdown, ae was taking welding and sculpting classes that required special materials, which the school provided. But it was hard to replicate assignments alone in aer room. (Oceanna uses the pronouns “ae” and “aer”).”
A City of Surveillance and Wonders: Announcing S. Qiouyi Lu’s Debut Novella In the Watchful City (Tor.com) , 2020 ; The article is about a book by S. Qiouyi Lu, who uses ae/they pronouns, titled "In the Watchful City." Anima, the protagonist of the book, uses æ/ær/ærs pronouns.
- “Tordotcom Publishing is thrilled to announce that Jonathan Strahan has acquired World English Rights to S. Qiouyi Lu’s In the Watchful City, a lyrical, intimate novella set in a remote, fantastical city that uses a complex living network to watch over its inhabitants and visitors. Through the lens of four interconnected stories, one of the city’s cloistered human overseers will see aer knowledge of aer world expand beyond the city’s boundaries to places—and possibilities—ae has never before imagined to exist.”
- “S. Qiouyi Lu writes, translates, and edits between two coasts of the Pacific. Aer work has appeared in several award-winning venues. Ae edits the magazine Arsenika and runs microverses, a hub for tiny narratives. You can find out more about S. at aer website s.qiouyi.lu or on Twitter ”
- “sqiouyilu.”
Bernardine Evaristo – Girl, Woman, Other, 2019
- “they discussed the best gender-neutral alternatives such as ae, e, ey, per, they, and tested each word to see if the words tripped off the tongue or “tripped over it, ditto with the alternatives to his and hers: hirs, aers, eirs, pers, theirs and xyrs”
David Lindsay – A Voyage to Arcturus, 1920
- “No children were produced by the act; the lover aerself was the eternal child. Further, ae sought like a man, but received like a woman.”
- “Ae possessed broad shoulders and big bones, and was without female breasts, and so far ae resembled a man. But the bones were so flat and angular that aer flesh presented something of the character of a crystal, having plane surfaces in place of curves.”
- “Maskull found it impossible to compute aer age. The frame appeared active, vigorous, and healthy, the skin was clear and glowing; the eyes were powerful and alert—ae might well be in early youth. ”
S. Qiouyi Lu – In the Watchful City (GoodReads book summary) , 2021 ; This is the GoodReads summary of "In The Watchful City" by S. Qiouyi Lu. The main character is Anima and æ uses æ/ær/ærs pronouns. According to the reviews, other characters have neopronouns like se/ser/sers and e/em/eirs.
- “Anima is one of the cloistered extrasensory humans tasked with watching over Ora's citizens. Although ær world is restricted to what æ can see and experience through the Gleaming, Anima takes pride and comfort in keeping Ora safe from all harm.”
- “As Anima’s world expands beyond the borders of Ora to places—and possibilities—æ never before imagined to exist, æ finds ærself asking a question that throws into doubt ær entire purpose: What good is a city if it can’t protect its people?”
What's the deal with pronouns?
Pronouns are those words that we use instead of calling someone by their name every time we mention them. Most people use “he/him” and “she/her”, so we automatically assume which one to call them based on someone's looks. But it's actually not that simple…
Gender is complicated. Some people “don't look like” their gender. Some prefer being called in a different way from what you'd assume. Some people don't fit into the boxes of “male” or “female” and prefer more neutral language.
This tool lets you share a link to your pronouns, with example sentences, so that you can show people how you like to be called.
Why does it matter? Because of simple human decency. You wouldn't call Ashley “Samantha” just because you like that name more or because “she looks like a Samantha to you”. Or even if she does have the name “Samantha” in her birth certificate but she absolutely hates it and prefers to use “Ashley”. And it's the exact same story with pronouns – if you don't want to be rude towards someone, please address them properly. The only difference is that we usually know names, but not pronouns. We introduce ourselves with a name, but not pronouns. Let's change that!