pronoun

A  pronoun  is a word that people often use to refer to other people or objects instead of their names; on the indieweb you can express which pronouns should be used to refer to you. English examples include she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs.

Why
Why put your pronouns in your profile? Some reasons summarized from this Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/jaythenerdkid/status/861666628160765952
 * normalize the idea of declaring pronouns
 * challenge the assumption that everyone is the gender they present as
 * challenge the idea that everyone is cis until proven otherwise
 * remove ambiguity - people will know what to call you by

IndieWeb Examples

 * added pronouns to http://acegiak.net as of 2015-02-18
 * added pronouns to the h-card on https://kylewm.com on 2015-03-11
 * added pronouns to http://gregorlove.com/about as of 2015-03-12
 * added pronouns to the h-card on https://unrelenting.technology as of 2015-09-07. Also, their website shows h-card pronouns in reply/like/repost contexts, e.g. on this like
 * added pronouns (in several languages) to the h-card on http://vanderven.se/martijn/ on 2017-05-21
 * added pronouns to the h-card on https://00dani.me/
 * added pronouns on his profile page https://aaronparecki.com/about/
 * added pronouns on her homepage's h-card at https://piperswe.me/
 * added pronouns on https://www.jvt.me on 2019-04-10
 * added pronouns to the representative h-card on sixtwothree.org on 2019-08-27
 * added pronouns to on 2018-11-16, and to the representative h-card on 2019-12-06
 * undefined added pronouns to his home page (tantek.com) h-card on 2020-10-22 using p-pronouns for the full set as a string, and p-pronoun h-pronoun for each individual pronoun linked to a URL explaining its use.

Implementation Examples
Publishing: Consuming code:
 * Former example: h-card as a service added pronoun fields (with auto import from h-card) on 2016-06-27
 * Authl will parse the h-card of a logged-in user to provide a user profile to the site operator, and uses the  property as human-readable pronouns. This can be seen in operation on 's user profile page.

Silo Examples

 * @abbieandahalf has "they/them" in their Twitter bio
 * @brianloveswords has "he/him" in his Twitter bio
 * @lindseybieda has "she/her" in her Twitter bio
 * @jneen_ has http://pronoun.is/she in her Twitter bio
 * my.pronoun.is (or just pronoun.is) is a little website that offers a way to show your pronouns on a silo profile using a link, e.g. my.pronoun.is/they/them
 * MetaFilter updated their user profile field from "Gender" to "Gender and/or pronouns"

Pronoun Badges
Pronoun badges are physical pins, stickers, or buttons which attendees of events can attach to their lanyards or clothing to display their pronouns. Below are some examples of pronoun pins used at various events.

IndieWebCamp
Since many conferences are normalizing explicit self-display of personal pronouns with stickers, labels pins, we provide pronoun pins at IndieWebCamps too!






 * the inner black line represents the visible edge of the front of the button
 * the small white letters are visible on the side of the button

Design brainstorming:


 * use non-traditional or ungendered colors (see above examples)
 * consider using a color palette that accommodates various forms of colorblindness. see The viridis color palettes for an example of deriving an accessible color palette.
 * decided to not prioritize this over other factors like using our brand colors, since the information conveyed by the color is also conveyed via other prominent methods (text, shape/size of shadow)
 * print "indieweb.org/pronoun" in small print curved along the border (readable at in-person conversational distance) to provide a reference to find out more about where the pin came from
 * around the rim of the button, include links to the code of conduct, list of events, etc

Donut.js
Donut.js has provided pronoun stickers for the meetups.



Sticker text:
 * "my pronoun:"
 * "he"
 * "she"
 * "they"
 * "ask me"

pronounribbons.org


Ribbon text:
 * "my pronouns are:"
 * "he/him"
 * "she/her"
 * "they/their"
 * "________"

pronoun stickers
The artwork below was created by Justine Arreche for other events to use. The artwork can be downloaded here.



Sticker text:
 * "my pronoun:"
 * "he"
 * "she"
 * "they"
 * "ask me"

There is deliberately no blank write-in option due to the risk of it being misused.

TravisCI


Button text:
 * "my pronoun:"
 * "he"
 * "she"
 * "they"
 * "ask me"

via @ctrlaltjustine

XOXO
XOXO has provided pronoun pins a number of years.



Button text:
 * Pronouns
 * he | him
 * she | her
 * they | them
 * ask me!



Pin text:
 * "I use _____ pronouns"
 * he / him
 * she / her
 * they / their
 * Please ask me my pronouns

The lack of distinguishing shapes or colors and the curly text caused these pronouns to get some negative feedback from attendees that it was difficult to read peoples' pronoun pins.

Techfed Nashville


Button text:
 * He Him His
 * She Her Hers
 * They Them Their
 * ___ ___ ___

Devconf.us
Devconf.us provided pronoun stickers as a sticker sheet.



Sticker text:
 * He Him His
 * She Her Hers
 * They Them Their

Lesbians Who Tech


Button text:
 * He/Him
 * She/Her
 * They/Them
 * #lwtsummit wrapped around the bottom

Affect Conf


Sticker text:
 * Pronoun
 * he
 * she
 * they
 * ask

DevOpsDays
DevOpsDays conferences have options for:


 * he/him
 * she/her
 * they/them

For example, DevOpsDays London stickers can be seen on this Tweet https://twitter.com/_AlexYates_/status/1042706442086756352

Markup
Several ways to mark-up pronouns are discussed on Microformats.org’s h-card Brainstorming: Pronouns
 * has written about on his own domain.

See and contribute pronoun markup research and brainstorming to:
 * http://microformats.org/wiki/pronouns

Why not preferred pronoun
The reason we don't use "preferred gender pronoun" is because that can imply that the pronoun isn't their true pronoun.

Follow-up: Would "personal pronoun" be acceptable? As there is an implied "personal choice" aspect in that people are being offered physical pins/stickers for pronouns from which to choose from (sometimes write-in their own).