The Stay-In Weather Sale: 20% off select books
Used, New, and Out of Print Books - We Buy and Sell - Powell's Books
Cart |
|  my account  |  wish list  |  help   |  800-878-7323
Hello, | Login
MENU
  • Browse
    • New Arrivals
    • Bestsellers
    • Award Winners
    • Signed Preorders
    • Signed Editions
    • Digital Audio Books
    • See All Subjects
  • Used
  • Staff Picks
    • Staff Picks
    • Picks of the Month
    • Book Club Subscriptions
    • 25 PNW Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books From the 21st Century
    • 25 Memoirs to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Global Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Women to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books to Read Before You Die
  • Gifts + Gift Cards
    • Gift Cards & eGift Cards
    • Powell's Souvenirs
    • Read Rise Resist Gear
    • Journals & Notebooks
    • Games
    • Socks
  • Sell Books
    • Sell Books Online
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Find A Store

PowellsBooks.Blog
Authors, readers, critics, media − and booksellers.

Lists

Six Tips to Make Your Workplace More Inclusive for Nonbinary Individuals!

by Archie Bongiovanni and Tristan Jimerson, June 15, 2018 9:48 AM
A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns by Archie Bongiovanni and Tristan Jimerson

“Is that a joke?” asks a middle-aged man incredulously, pointing to a sign attached to the cash register that reads: "Please use gender-neutral pronouns when addressing our staff. Thanks for being a pal."

It’s Sunday morning at 9 a.m. I’ve been here since 6 a.m. I have had three cups of cold coffee.

I’ve had this conversation for four years now, with supportive friends, confused family, and belligerent strangers. It has not gotten easier, and it’s one of the main reasons for writing A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns.

When Tristan and I created A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns, we wanted to include a chapter about work, specifically how to support nonbinary folks in your workplace and how to ensure that when future queer, trans, and nonbinary people start working for your employer, there are already systems in place to make them feel safe and supported. 

It can be so exhausting to have to constantly advocate for yourself — no amount of strong coffee can save me — so here are six simple things that allies can do to help a pal out. 

1. Normalize asking for and sharing pronouns. An easy way to start this is to include your pronouns when you sign your name in emails or to list them on your business cards. Insist that it become a regular activity for pronouns to be shared at work — you don’t have to wait until there’s someone who is openly nonbinary or transgender to do this! When folks introduce themselves, they can include pronouns with their names during meetings, email chains, on name tags, or however it make sense at your place of business. 

2. Be ready to talk about it. Take the time to explain to folks why it’s important to use nonbinary language and pronouns. Leave a copy of our book in your breakroom! Give one to your mom! Share the love! We tried to keep this book easy and entertaining to read so it felt like a friend explaining they/them pronouns — not a lecture. We gender-nonconforming folks often have to explain and reexplain our identity on the daily, so anytime an ally can step up means one less conversation we have to have on our own. 

3. Advocate for folks who get misgendered, even if the person being misgendered isn’t there. Our book offers various ways to go about this, the first rule being communication and not being afraid to call folks out when they are doing something wrong. It actually gets easier and doesn’t have to be a big deal!   

4. Make it a safe space.
Gender-neutral bathrooms are a great place to start! Perhaps ask that your HR department bring someone in to talk about inclusivity! If you’re a teacher, I cannot even begin to explain how much it means to youth to have their teachers ask what names/pronouns they use. Starting the conversation can sometimes be the first step in creating a safer space for everyone. 

5. Don’t make it a big deal when you mess up (and you will mess up).
Apologize and move on. We provide some scripts and samples of what this looks like in our book, but a quick, “I’m sorry, I’m going to work on getting better,” is all that’s needed. 

6. Correct your own language. There’s a lot of gendered language that we use without thinking: “ma’am,” “sir,” “ladies,” “guys,” etc. While it might be tough at the start, we can actually train ourselves out of using this language and replace it with gender-neutral alternatives. A Quick and Easy Guide To They/Them Pronouns includes some simple charts of words to replace and what to replace them with. As someone who has worked in the service industry for years, I can absolutely promise you that when you address staff in a gender-neutral way — or when you address your customers in a gender-neutral way — it will make someone’s day better (or at least not worse), and that alone is worth practicing!
÷ ÷ ÷
Archie Bongiovanni is a queer cartoonist living in Minneapolis whose work has been published online, in anthologies, and in mini-comics, and whose first graphic novel, Out of Hollow Water, was published by 2D Cloud in 2013. They are the creator of The Grease Bats, a monthly webcomic for the queer feminist website Autostraddle, as well as a contributing cartoonist to Everyday Feminism. Their most recent book, with Tristan Jimerson, is A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns.

Tristan Jimerson is a freelance copywriter living in Minneapolis. His award-winning work has been featured in publications such as Creativity magazine and The Egoist. He has written copy for everything from exercise equipment to electronics. In fact, if you've been inside Best Buy within the last 6 months, you've probably read something he wrote. Tristan grew up on the rolling plains of rural Iowa, and after deciding that it wasn't cold enough, moved to Minnesota.



Books mentioned in this post

Out of Hollow Water

Archie Bongiovanni

A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns

Archie Bongiovanni and Tristan Jimerson
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##

Most Read

  1. Best Fiction of 2020 by Powell's Books
  2. Books That Got Us Through 2020: A Reading Retrospective by Powell's Staff
  3. 25 Books to Read Before You Die: 21st Century by Powell's Staff
  4. All That's on Our TBR List by Powell's Staff
  5. Best Nonfiction of 2020 by Emily Brodowicz

Blog Categories

  • Interviews
  • Original Essays
  • Lists
  • Q&As
  • Playlists
  • Portrait of a Bookseller
  • City of Readers
  • Required Reading
  • Powell's Picks Spotlight

2 Responses to "Six Tips to Make Your Workplace More Inclusive for Nonbinary Individuals!"

E Basset June 21, 2018 at 05:45 AM
Alice - Thank you for the reminder that the best of itentions can still result in "ouch". I'm cis female but frequently get called "Sir" in public. Not anywhere near as invalidating as what you face but still gets old. Your thoughts are something I will reread and ponder for quite a while. - E

Alice June 17, 2018 at 04:54 PM
To preface, I am a binary trans woman, I use she/her pronouns go by Ms etc. I'm experiencing a tension where practices that make spaces more inclusive for non-binary folks have a negative impact on me. For example, you write "when you address your customers in a gender-neutral way — it will make someone’s day better (or at least not worse)" and for me as a trans woman it makes my day worse when people treat me like I'm not a woman. It feels deeply invalidating and brings up the anger and pain of my experiences (big and small) with transmisogyny. Likewise, when cis dominated spaces do pronoun sharing I find it deeply upsetting because I experience it as putting a question mark around specifically my gender identity and it feels like a practice disconnected from non-cis experiences. My gender is important to me and gendered language is a powerful and simple affirmation, especially when coming from cis folks and especially especially when coming from cis folks who share my gender? Is that just a binary privilege that I need to let go of to be in solidarity with you? In spaces that are trans centered I'm of course going to share pronouns and it feels totally normal, but that's because the cis-trans power dynamic is absent. It is totally different when a trans person asks me about my gender or pronouns than a cis person because other trans folks don't have gatekeeping power over my ability to live as my gender. I don't know, I definitely occupy a different place in society than they/them users and I know that I don't fully appreciate those experiences. I just also want to say "ouch" and I'm trying to understand what it means for us to show up for each other when it feels like the structures that are best for me are harmful to you and vice versa?

Result(s) 2

Post a comment:

*Required Fields
Name*
Email*
  1. Please note:
  2. All comments require moderation by Powells.com staff.
  3. Comments submitted on weekends might take until Monday to appear.
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

  • Help
  • Guarantee
  • My Account
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Security
  • Wish List
  • Partners
  • Contact Us
  • Shipping
  • Sitemap
  • © 2021 POWELLS.COM Terms