27 Alternate Pronouns Displayed On Business School Application, What's More? There's Still An “Others” Option
Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business’s WomenLead program, which aims to “equip female students to excel in school, enter the workforce with developed skills, and find their place in leadership positions,” may seem pretty straightforward…until you see their application form.
Once you scroll down past the basic information questions about your last name, first name, and nickname, the application form asks you, “what pronouns do you prefer?”
And it’s like a BUFFET of choices.
You would think that the most obvious choices would be “she,” “her,” “hers,” and “herself,” considering the program’s name and main purpose, but the form also includes he,” “him,” “his,” “his,” “himself” and then “they,” “them,” “their,” “theirs,” “themself” in the choices. The latter has been quite around for some time, as more people claim to be non-binary and prefer to be called non-binary pronouns.
But there was more! If you thought they/them were the only non-binary pronouns, wrong! The Georgia State University application also included “ey,” “xie,” “hir,” “vis,” and “eirs,” totaling 27 pronoun choices. And if your preference still doesn’t fall under anything from the extensive list of choices, there was the “Other” option.
With their program explicitly stating it is for “women,” Director of WomenLead Nancy Mansfield explained that the program “invites all students who meet the requirements regardless of gender.” Thus the buffet of pronoun choices in their application form.
Earlier this month, a tweet showing an application form from the Georgia State University with their extensive pronouns received a satire write-up.
Pronoun choices at Georgia State University https://t.co/edID5hVnFL pic.twitter.com/czG4XvsucX
— Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) December 6, 2020
“I’m not a student at Georgia State University, but I’m offended anyway. I identify as a 23-year-old apache helicopter, but out of respect for my indigenous neighbors who lived on the land I stole 150 years ago, I merely call myself a helicopter. My pronouns are wop, whoop, whip, whoosh, whoop whoop,” wrote Tristan Justine from The Federalist.
Justine also added that if the state university was all about inclusion, why did they name their program “WomenLead” and not “PeopleLead?”
This isn’t the first time Georgia State University made noise regarding their openness and willingness to accept the ever-growing and changing kinds of pronouns. In fact, back in 2018, the university released a how-to guide on pronoun usage. The guide includes advice for uncomfortable using gender-neutral pronouns and encourages them to use their own preferred pronouns and ask others to specify theirs.