Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1088108
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 MARCH 2019 MATTHEW VELLA AS a society we are all taught pronoun usage through formal education, with rules based on a binary male/female and sin- gular/plural framework. It sounds reasonable enough to expect that anybody we ad- dress might be identifiable as a male or female, but the eman- cipation of gender identities is challenging this expectation. People whose identity is non- binary – often members of the transgender, genderqueer, or gender non-conforming communities – want to be ad- dressed by pronouns that do not "misgender" them. Like Mina Tolu, the LGBTQ+ ac- tivist and now Green Party candidate for the forthcoming European elections. They – for this is the pronoun that Tolu prefers – identify as a non-bi- nary trans person. "By a trans person I mean somebody who doesn't iden- tify with the gender that I was assigned at birth. So, usually whenever somebody is born, the doctors go: you are male or female. I no longer identify as female. But neither do I iden- tify as male, and that's why we use the term non-binary – to identify something that is not male or female." And that means that the common pronouns we usually use for male or female – which are he or she, him or her – do not apply in Tolu's case. At least when speaking in English, where 'they' has become com- monly used as a pronoun to refer to a person who neither identifies as male or female. But why is it important for people to respect these pro- nouns? "Well, by respecting some- body's pronouns, you show that you're actually listening to them. That you believe that they know who they are, and so you don't force an idea of what you think they should be on them," Tolu replies. "By respecting my pronouns, or by trying to – because I know it can be difficult at times – then I know that they see me, that they have listened to me, even though they might not totally get the whole gen- der thing or gender spectrum thing… because it can be com- plicated: I mean, it's something I was dealing with, talking about every day, because I'm an LGBTQ+ activist, I've been working in this area. "Now, I don't expect everyone to get it, but if they've tried, it shows that they've listened to me, and that means their say- ing: OK then, you know who you are." It is an act of common cour- tesy enough. Just ask, 'What pronouns do you use?' To- lu tells me. "You know, it's like with this interview, you reached out to me and said: 'Mina, I noticed in some com- ments, people are referring to you with different pronouns; I noticed in your video you used terms like 'queer', so what pro- nouns do you use?" Indeed, Tolu referenced their identity in a video they broad- cast on Facebook during which they called for a safe space to speak about reproductive rights and sexual education, where they spoke about grow- ing up queer and the effect that taboos have on people's lives. Unsurprisingly, the exigen- cies of respecting gender pro- nouns invite opposition to change what is an accepted grammatical framework that is being challenge by these com- plex layers of identity. Not everyone will subscribe to the virtue of having to ac- count for these changing pro- nouns, or accept to have to learn how to refer to people in whatever way they see them- selves and choose to be seen. For centuries, gendered pro- nouns have assumed a real- ity of cisgender males and females, that is people who identify with the gender as- signed at birth. But these lin- guistic tools do not account for transgender and gender- nonconforming individuals, and whose pronouns cannot be assumed simply on how they look. "I know it's complicated," Tolu replies. "And when it comes to 'they' being seen as a collective noun, I say, OK let's have an example. You go into a shop, and you notice that there is a wallet on the floor. You don't know who that wallet be- longs to, but you go to the shop owner and say that someone has left their wallet behind. Al- ready, there is one person you are referring to with 'their'. 'Their' wallet… so it is part of our language to refer to a per- son whose gender you don't know, because they are not in the room usually, you have never seen them before… So I don't think it's a big leap to starting using it for people who ask for them." Tolu understands that not anyone will subscribe to re- specting gender pronouns. "I myself do not enjoy calling people out for not using the pronouns that I ask them to use. You know I'm in politics. I know, it can be tough. I know there will be a lot of comments for example on Facebook about this." But critics will also rush to complain about notions of ar- tificial genders, or those who demand that their pronouns be actual constructions such as fae, ey, per, ve, xe, and ze (all accepted pronouns found in LGBT resources). "I've never had anyone in a face to face conversation tell me: No Mina I'm not go- ing to use that, that's bullshit. That's never happened. And so clearly I've got the circles that I'm exposed to, who are more exposed to this and are more willing to respect a person's choice…. I'm not bothered if people say: you have to be a she, you have to be a he, and that's how it is… "Language is always evolv- ing… just the fact that you knew the term non-binary, and used the term gender queer, is something new. Many people may say those are artificial terms [but] I don't see any lan- guage anyone comes up with as artificial. Language doesn't need to be approved always, by some higher entity, for it to be in use." NEWS A public exhibition TRACING THE PATH OF WOMEN IN POLITICS 6‑13 March 2019 PARLIAMENT OF MALTA OPENING HOURS Monday - Friday 9:00 - 17:00 Saturday & Sunday 9:00 - 12:30 with original documents, photos and other exhibits Free admission President Emeritus Agatha Barbara's hat President Emeritus Agatha Barbara's hat 'Respecting my gender pronouns means people see me' "Language doesn't need to be approved always, by some higher entity, for it to be in use." Green Party candidate Mina Tolu