University Backtracks After Encouraging Staff To Use ‘Neopronouns’, ‘Emojiself,’ And ‘Catgender’ Terms
Following widespread outrage, a university in the UK backtracked on its encouragement to their staff to use made-up pronouns like “emojiself” for individuals that identify as emojis or “catgender” for individuals that identify as cats.
Bristol University in England sparked controversy by providing their staff with guidance on how to properly use pronouns. The guidance included links with some extremely progressive material.
Bristol University has been ridiculed for encouraging staff to use a gender pronoun guide which included “catgender” for people who identify as cats, and “emojiself” for people who identify with emojis.#gripthttps://t.co/vvrUzTKMCD
— gript (@griptmedia) February 14, 2022
The alternative pronouns the university suggested are called “neopronouns.” Some examples are “xe/xem/xyr”, “ze/hir/hirs”, and “ey/em/eir.”
Cat-identifiers typically use the pronouns “nay/nyan” since that is the Japanese word for “meow.”
The University eventually updated its guidance literature and removed the links to the odd material. They also attacked media coverage that suggested the material was officially from university administrators:
“We have a guide on our website which is designed to help people understand the different variations and nuances that this covers. This linked to an external LGBTA Wiki page with further information, which in turn links to a separate page on catgender. These external links are not official university guidance and we are disappointed that it has been reported as such. With this in mind, we have now removed this link and apologise for the confusion caused.”
They continued, “There is no expectation that staff must commit every possible pronoun to memory. Using pronouns on email signatures or as part of meeting introductions is not a mandatory requirement.”
Stay tuned to The Scoop for any updates.
