This question is really common for folks who identify with the gender that they were assigned at birth (“raised a girl/boy”). However, the reasons why are surprising and compelling. We hope you’ll read and understand better.
- Friendly Faces: When gender-nonconforming, questioning, non-binary, and transgender folks see pronouns on name tags, it lets us know that you’re more likely to respect our pronouns.
- Professional Spaces: By putting your pronouns on your name tag, you’re signaling how you want to be addressed. You’re also signaling that you will respect folks with pronouns different than your own.
- Freedom to Express Or Not: Please note that some folks may choose not to put their pronouns on their name tag. Please don’t shame folks for not including pronouns on their name tags.
- Make It Mundane: If we normalize the use of pronouns in name tags, email signatures, and the like, then we’ll be able to immediately identify how people want to be addressed. We’ll make a better culture for future generations of ecologists.
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Authored by: Sam Davis (they/them) from the Inclusive Ecology Section at the Ecological Society of America