3 ms·

I very much agree with this in principle, but I think there are limits to it too. If a user who uses they/them joins your community and talks about yarn and pat

I very much agree with this in principle, but I think there are limits to it too. If a user who uses they/them joins your community and talks about yarn and patterns, referring to the user will always be political unless you ignore them or don't use pronouns around them, which is also political. And then whether or not the user is allowed to participate might be political- some users might be highly uncomfortable with a they/them pronoun user even participating and want a community "without those politics".

leoedin 6y ago
Why does that user have to reveal any pronouns on the web? The default state of web based communication is ungendered. I have no idea what your pronouns are. If I was referring to you in a comment thread I would have to use "they/them" (or maybe "KittenInABox"). That's not a political stance, that's just English.
- KittenInABox 6y ago
  If the policy then has to be that everyone has to be they/them or no one can have pronouns/correct anyone else about pronouns, then that itself is a political stance. Some things are just unavoidable.
  - luckylion 6y ago
    That feels like an artificial problem though. On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog. It's relatively easy to pass as any gender, age, race or whatever you want to. Yes, it will be more difficult if you call your account Transwomxn or request that people use xe/xir to refer to you, but if you're SarahKnitting, everybody will just assume you're Sarah and into knitting and will use she. At that point, it might be the right call by the community to not accomodate those that want to focus their membership on their political identity so they can provide a friendly community about knitting for the SarahKnittings of the internet.
    - KittenInABox 6y ago
      Right, what you're saying is that xe/xir is a political identity and therefore certain trans people aren't welcome. But that decision is of itself political.

leoedin 6y ago

Why does that user have to reveal any pronouns on the web? The default state of web based communication is ungendered. I have no idea what your pronouns are. If I was referring to you in a comment thread I would have to use "they/them" (or maybe "KittenInABox"). That's not a political stance, that's just English.

KittenInABox 6y ago
If the policy then has to be that everyone has to be they/them or no one can have pronouns/correct anyone else about pronouns, then that itself is a political stance. Some things are just unavoidable.
- luckylion 6y ago
  That feels like an artificial problem though. On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog. It's relatively easy to pass as any gender, age, race or whatever you want to. Yes, it will be more difficult if you call your account Transwomxn or request that people use xe/xir to refer to you, but if you're SarahKnitting, everybody will just assume you're Sarah and into knitting and will use she. At that point, it might be the right call by the community to not accomodate those that want to focus their membership on their political identity so they can provide a friendly community about knitting for the SarahKnittings of the internet.
  - KittenInABox 6y ago
    Right, what you're saying is that xe/xir is a political identity and therefore certain trans people aren't welcome. But that decision is of itself political.