Avoid erasing women and nonbinary people from everyday conversations

We can avoid erasing women and nonbinary people from everyday conversations by using gender-neutral descriptions. Some examples include:

  • Folks, folx, or everybody instead of guys or ladies/gentleman
  • Humankind instead of mankind
  • People instead of man/men
  • Members of Congress instead of congressmen
  • Councilperson instead of councilman/councilwoman
  • First-year student instead of freshman
  • Machine-made, synthetic, or artificial instead of man-made
  • Parent or pibling instead of mother/father
  • Child instead of son/daughter
  • Kiddo instead of boy/girl
  • Sibling instead of sister/brother
  • Nibling instead of niece/nephew
  • Partner, significant other, or spouse instead of girlfriend/boyfriend or wife/husband
  • Flight attendant instead of steward/stewardess
  • Salesperson or sales representative instead of salesman/saleswoman
  • Server instead of waiter/waitress
  • Firefighter instead of fireman

–Lydia Ortiz, “How to Use Gender-Neutral Words (and why they’re important)”

Gender expression is not the same as gender identity

“Recognize that gender expression is not the same as gender identity, though they can be closely intertwined. Also, cisgender people can express themselves in ways that are non-conforming to binary norms. I know stores are broken up by gender, but guess what? They’re not the boss of you, or anyone else.”

–AC Dumlao, “100 Ways to Make the World Better for Non-Binary People”

100 Ways to Make the World Better for Non-Binary People

“100 Ways to Make the World Better for Non-Binary People,” AC Dumlao, June 2018

A light-hearted list of ways to think about gender outside binary model and alter some basic everyday practices; useful to rethink basics such as ‘ladies and gentlemen’ etc. Although not specific to academia, many useful ideas are included. Of note is its repeated emphasis on ‘it’s not about you’ to those who might be resistant to these changes