The de/politicization of pronouns: implications of the No Big Deal Campaign for gender-expansive educational policy and practice |
| |
| Authors: | Lee Airton |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Faculty of Education, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canadalee.airton@queensu.ca |
| |
| Abstract: | ABSTRACTAccommodating non-binary transgender people, many of whom use gender-neutral pronouns, poses a unique challenge to schools and universities, even in contexts with legal protections for transgender rights. This article explores a recent Canadian controversy around gender-neutral pronouns, and assembles a theoretical framework to analyze the argument that legal protection for transgender peoples’ pronouns poses a threat to ‘free speech.’ The framework bridges queer theory, affect theory and Deleuzo-Guattarian assemblage theory to propose a threshold between ‘extra’ and ‘excessive’ effort to accommodate social difference in everyday life. Free speech objections produce some peoples’ pronouns as requiring ‘excessive’ effort. This extra/excessive framework was exemplified by a recent Canadian social media campaign that sought to produce transgender peoples’ pronouns as requiring merely ‘extra’ effort, which entails de-politicizing pronouns. Community responses to the campaign carry significant implications for gender-expansive educational policy and practice. |
| |
| Keywords: | Gender-neutral pronouns singular they transgender Canada education policy |
|
|
