An office within the National Institutes of Health published a guideline that outlines how professionals should use gendered pronouns to “affirm gender identity” for themselves and colleagues, warning that intentionally using the wrong pronouns is “equivalent to harassment.”
Fox News Digital reviewed the NIH Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office’s “Gender Pronouns & Their Use in Workplace Communications” guide, which provides more than 40 different pronoun examples, while also providing examples on how to avoid making pronoun “mistakes” in the workplace.
For professionals to “facilitate inclusive, affirming and welcoming” workplaces, the gender pronouns guide hashes out a series of different mistakes to avoid while using pronouns, including not describing pronouns as “preferred” or “chosen” as that allegedly implies “that gender identity is a preference or a choice, when it is neither.”
“Performative allyship,” when people only superficially show they are devoted to a cause, is also frowned upon, with the guide pointing to a hypothetical situation where an employer mandates all employees publicly share their pronouns.
Some employees, however, might not want to disclose their pronouns as they are not “ready to ‘come out’ and disclose their gender identity,” according to the guide, which was crafted in part by the NIH’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
Hellbound and Down 
One thought on “NIH Guide Warns Against Describing Pronouns as ‘Chosen,’ Pushes Slew of 40 Different Options”