Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal may have attracted mixed reactions for his opinion on gender pronouns, but amid the debate of ‘pronoun illness’, ‘political ideology’, ‘corporate culture’ and the usage of ‘they/them’ for people who don’t identify themselves exclusively as a male or a female, or by those who are unwilling to disclose their gender identity, besides trans people, lie the nuances of progressive initiatives, challenges of technology, rules of grammar, as well as criticism, such as ‘imitating’ the West.
On May 6, Aggarwal took to X to slam LinkedIn after the latter removed his post in which he criticised non-binary pronouns and termed them as an “illness”.
Sharing a screenshot of his chat with LinkedIn’s AI bot, in which ‘they/their’ pronouns were used, he wrote on X: “Hoping that this ‘pronoun illness’ doesn’t reach India.”
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“Many ‘big city schools’ in India are now teaching it to kids. Also see many CVs with pronouns these days. Need to know where to draw the line in following the west blindly,” he added.
While many social media users accused Aggarwal of “homophobia”, calling his remarks a bit of a stretch, and that respecting gender pronouns is a basic act of decency, not an illness, several others also agreed with the alleged “misgendering” of Aggarwal, saying that “inclusivity and diversity are good but they cannot be imported as it is from the West”.
Non-binary queer rights activist and lawyer Rohin Bhatt referred to Aggarwal’s remarks as “homophobic and transphobic”. “We talk about aping the West but yet we say that we always had respect for all. But if there is a respect for all, then why not respect people’s identity and their pronouns? The moment you choose to do that, I think it doesn’t need to be an Eastern or Western concept,” he added.
Courting sensitivity
The development comes at a time when the Indian judiciary has been systematically introducing sensitivity towards the gender spectrum through several initiatives. Two years ago, acting upon Bhatt’s letter to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, the Supreme Court (SC) approved nine gender-neutral restrooms and online appearance slips in the court.
Last year, the apex court also came up with a new handbook to combat gender stereotypes. It had suggestions of alternate language such as “assigned female/male at birth” instead of “born a girl/boy”, “intersex” instead of “hermaphrodite”, “transgender” instead of “transsexual”, and “cross-dresser” instead of “transvestite”, among others.
On one account, quashing a stereotype that transgender individuals cannot be raped, the SC even went on to explain that it is incorrect to assume that all transgender individuals are sex workers who always consent to sexual relations. It added that they are, in fact, one of the groups which are most vulnerable to sexual violence because they are stigmatised and face structural discrimination.
More recently, in a ruling, the SC also chose the usage of the term “pregnant persons” explaining in the footnote that the term is being used to recognise that, in addition to cisgender women, pregnancy can also be experienced by some non-binary people and transgender men, among other gender identities.
The SC also recently issued guidelines to the high courts on habeas corpus and protection petitions saying “sexual orientation and gender identity fall in a core zone of privacy of an individual and is a matter of self-identification”.
The court went on to emphasise that no stigma or moral judgment must be imposed when dealing with cases involving parties from the LGBTQ+ community while discouraging “pejorative” comments. It also called upon the court to “act swiftly against any queerphobic, transphobic, or otherwise derogatory conduct or remark by the alleged detainers, court staff, or lawyer”.
“I think that [the SC order] has forced the high courts to eschew personal, religious or social morality over constitutional morality,” Bhatt said.
A singular pronoun
While ‘they’ is commonly used as a singular pronoun when the person’s details are not known, it is also preferred by people who identify as gender non-binary or gender-queer. Proponents of gender pronouns explain that pronouns are personal and people who identify as non-binary may use only they/them pronouns, while some may use both gendered and gender-neutral pronouns to have a nuanced gender identity. Gender-fluid people may opt for more than one pronoun to describe them accurately at different points in time.
A recent study by researchers at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), led by professor of psychology and neuroscience Jennifer E Arnold, said that people are using “they/them” pronouns more often. It said that in many cases, it is used by individuals who identify themselves as gender non-binary or gender queer, which has the potential to dramatically change both the English language processing system and mainstream concepts of what gender is.
“Within the last decade, people have started to use ‘they’ as a personal pronoun, often because they identify as non-binary or gender nonconforming,” Arnold was quoted as saying by Phys.org, a UK-based science and technology news website.
Artificial intelligence works on existing data and algorithms and has the potential to err in predicting and suggesting gender pronouns. In 2018, Google blocked Gmail’s Smart Compose feature from suggesting gender-based pronouns to avoid misgendering.
Gender pronouns, especially ‘they/them’, have also been embroiled in controversy. Last month, anchor Julia Hartley-Brewer sparked a row when she refused to use pronouns shared by an Indian-origin journalist Shivani Dave. Dave had requested non-binary pronouns “they/them” to be used. The TV anchor instead used “she/her” pronouns saying that she was using “correct grammar”.
Last year, reacting to a study that said job applicants who include ‘they/them’ pronouns on their resumes often face disadvantages in the hiring process, X owner Elon Musk called it interesting. Musk has been criticising the use of “they/them” pronouns calling it “woke” culture.
