NZ State Services Commission mandating pronoun use in email signatures.

submitted by NZrad from ssc.govt.nz

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[–]PlayCardsNotPeople 21 insightful - 3 fun21 insightful - 2 fun22 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

They have factual error on their page. They say:

Having pronouns in an email signature signals you as an LGBTQIA+ ally.

Pronouns have nothing to with the LGB part. It should read:

Having pronouns in an email signature signals you as an TQIA+ handmaiden.

[–]INeedSomeTime 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I woundn't even put asexuals there. It's all that TQNB shit and it's so infuriating.

[–]brink 21 insightful - 2 fun21 insightful - 1 fun22 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

This doesn't seem to be mandated, unless I'm completely missing over something. It does sound terrible, however. I've noticed a lot more people including pronouns in their signatures in work e-mails and honestly it makes me feel like I'm being forced to admit I'm a woman. Something about it just really bothers me. I don't know if this is a bad way to think about it, but I try to keep my gender/sex out of my work.

[–]INeedSomeTime 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I know that feeling especially on my social media I avoid saying my gender unless it's someone I know. I noticed there is a difference in treatment when people know I'm a woman. When they didn't know it, it was much better.

[–]luckystar 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's absolutely worse if you have to say you're a woman outright. There have been studies on this. No wonder it's overwhelmingly biological women going by "non binary" pronouns these days.

[–]NZrad[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

My bad, I was trying to write a quick summary headline because it didn't give me one. Sorry! Not mandated but if you don't participate or make any begrudging comment, they'll go to HR.

[–]slushpilot 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Huh, so it's right out there in the open, highlighted as a bullet point:

Having pronouns in an email signature signals you as an LGBTQIA+ ally.

I didn't realize that working for the government meant that you were obligated to wave their political banners on a personal level. It's despicable to demand that. On top of that, whatever you are being asked to support is totally vague and open-ended, as denoted by the "+".

[–]NZrad[S] 12 insightful - 2 fun12 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I've phoned them up and asked them what they think society's dominant gender roles are, in order to figure out just how many of us are gender diverse. I doubt they've considered anything useful like that.

[–]EnnuiOz 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thankfully I have recently retired as, prior to this I was part of the LGBT (then more letters crept in) working group. I was so stoked when this group was initially created as I had worked for about 20 years in the government organisation being barely a step out of the closet due to it's relatively conservative nature.

However, in the past year or two all of the issues changed to be completely T focused and then we moved on to pronouns. So much talk, so much pandering. I started to make excuses about why I couldn't attend the meetings. Near the end of my time at work, we were all being STRONGLY encouraged to put our pronouns in our signature blocks. I just couldn't and wouldn't. It is completely obvious what my sex is and the general population of my workplace has no idea about the gender wars that are going on. They would be complely baffled by anything other than the norm.

So, in conclusion, I am so happy to have retired before this nonsense became the 'thing to do' as I just can't bring myself to take any of it seriously and, quite frankly, find it all rather embarrassing.

[–]worried19 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

What about religious people?

And what about closeted trans people who don't want to give their pronouns?

Admittedly, I'm not familiar with New Zealand's laws, but I don't see how the government can compel such speech from its employees.