Springfield College in Massachusetts is telling students not to use words like “mother” and “father” in order to be more inclusive.
The college put these suggestions on its “Gender Pronouns” web landing page. It tells students that using such language supports s”gender-inclusive academic, living, and work environments.”
Springfield College suggests alternative words like “parent” instead of “mother” or “father,” and “child” instead of “son” or “daughter.”
“Springfield College is committed to valuing and validating the gender identity and expression of members of the campus community. Gender identity refers to an individual’s internal sense of gender, regardless of the sex assigned to them at birth or the sex designation on their legal documents,” the “Gender Pronouns” section on the web site says.
Other phrases the school tells people to avoid include: sister/brother, boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife, policeman, salesman, and mankind, among others.
Instead, the school recommends sibling, partner/spouse/significant other, police officer, salesperson/sales associate, and people/human beings/humanity.
The same web page tells students it is a privilege to not have to worry about their preferred pronouns.
“It is a privilege to not have to worry about which pronoun someone is going to use for you based on how they perceive your gender,” the page said. “If you have this privilege, yet fail to respect someone else’s gender identity, it is disrespectful and hurtful.”
However, the web site tells people to not use the term “preferred pronouns.” Instead, the school wants students to say “personal pronouns.”
Springfield discourages using the term “preferred pronouns” over “personal pronouns,” since “the pronouns someone uses are not a preference.” If a student does not know another individual’s personal pronouns, then he should “try to use ‘they/them’ pronouns,” the school advises.
“Do say ‘the pronouns someone uses’ or ‘their personal pronouns,’ rather than ‘their preferred pronouns,’ because the pronouns someone uses are not a preference,” the site said.
Additionally, the school tells students to apologize if they accidentally call someone by pronouns other than their preferred pronouns.
“The best thing to do if you use the wrong pronoun for someone is to say something right away, such as ‘Sorry, I meant they,’ ” the web site says. “Fix it, but do not call special attention to the error in the moment. If you realize your mistake after the fact, apologize in private and move on.”
“It can be tempting to go on and on about how bad you feel that you messed up or how hard it is for you to get it right,” the school’s web site adds. “But please, don’t. It is inappropriate and makes the person who was misgendered feel awkward and responsible for comforting you, which is not their job. It is your job to remember people’s pronouns.”
Plus, the school’s site tells students to correct others if they are not using someone’s preferred pronouns.
“If you hear someone else using the wrong pronoun, in most cases, you may gently correct the person who made the mistake without further embarrassing the individual who was misgendered,” the web site says. “You can say something like, ‘Actually, Neera uses “they” for themselves.’ ”
A spokesman for Springfield College could not be reached for comment on Wednesday or Thursday.
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