What's wrong with them?: Exploring Preferred Gender Pronouns in Online Newspaper Articles

Choosing preferred gender pronouns is becoming a more widely accepted choice in social settings and official documentation – but how is this issue considered and discussed in the media? Does the way this topic is presented affect the opinions and attitudes of the audience? Approximately 641, 000 people in the UK identify as being gender nonconforming in some way (GIRES.ORG: 2015). Many of these individuals do not feel they fit within the binary social constructions of gender and that therefore the ‘standard’ gendered personal pronouns do not accurately convey their identities. Due to a lack of previous research within the field, with the exceptions of Baron (1986) and Curzan (2003), this study aims to investigate preferred gender pronouns and their representation in mainstream media. This study uses data analysis of online newspaper articles relating to recent events which are relevant to LGBT+ issues, such as the introduction of the gender-neutral pronoun ‘hen’ to the official dictionary of the Swedish language, and the controversy around universities allowing students to select their preferred gender pronouns on institutional registers. This paper uses critical discourse analysis to examine both the text presented in the articles and the social contexts by which they are surrounded, as a method of working towards social justice. Ultimately, this leads to a conclusion that the concept of preferred gender pronouns is portrayed as new and strange, and is therefore surrounded by a certain level of confusion. As the discourse on this topic continues, it will inevitably affect the mind-sets, opinions, and levels of acceptance of the wider public.