He/She/They/Ze

Listening to Elvin Pedersen-Nielsen's TEDx Talk on Educating Kids About Gender 

Norms, showed me just how uncomfortable, exposed, and targeted, transgender and 

gender queer people feel in society and the world. His analogy using the “table” gave me a 

relatable perspective to look from in my own way, despite that I am neither transgender or 

gender queer. By using this analogy, he was able to help many unaware viewers on his lens of 

perspective. I have heard several occasions on which someone has committed a violent crime 

because of their sexuality, but there was something about this video that actually shook me and 

made me realize how serious and fatal the matter is. His tone of voice while talking about how 

people like him feel put “on the spot” when they need to identify themselves and possibly be 

prepared for criticism is something heart-wrenching. 

Needless to say, even if I had not watched this video, I would still agree with the 

moderate claim from Robert Dembroff and Daniel Wodrak’s He/She/They/Ze that we have a 

responsibility of not just using the binary terms when describing someone. Because everyone has 

the right to own their identity and to be appropriately and respectfully addressed as needed. I 

don’t however, agree with the radical claim because it is simply too extreme and in the end 

result, would not make a helpful or meaningful impact whatsoever. To remove gender specific 

pronouns altogether is senseless because in a way, this claim is saying that in order for the 

genderqueer and transgenders to have their identity, we have to lose ours and mix in with that 

population. 

Let’s assume we did this for a moment, removed all He’s and She’s, His and Hers- now 

how are you going to navigate to an appropriate bathroom, buy the right clothes, go to the doctor 

without them asking you multiple questions about your sexual identity before they get to the 

actual reason you are there? To remove pronouns would be to, in a sense, tip toe around the 

situation. Another reason is, to take away pronouns will result in even more confusion altogether, 

we are not trying to be more confused than we already are, the point is to be clear and respectful. 

Taking away pronouns won’t stop someone from giving a transgender nasty looks and being 

violent towards them. What should be done is, these people are given the opportunity and chance 

to change their identity on their birth certificates and records that allows them to be henceforth, 

always addressed and considered to be what they have chosen to identify as on their legal papers. 

This is fair and makes sense, because it’s what we all do at the time of birth, our parents and 

doctors identity our gender based on our sexual organs, and while transgender and gender queer 

don’t know they are trans and queer until they’re a little older, they should be given the exclusive 

opportunity to change this when they’ve decided what they identify with. To verify, they can be 

asked a series of questions regarding their sexual preferences in order to confirm that they are 

indeed a trans, queer, bi, and so on.