Pronouns - It’s Not About You!
Channel: Danelle Jones | Tribe Leadership Retreats
Date: 10/07/2021

If I can teach this to Southland, I can teach it to you.

You may have noticed I use my pronouns (she/her) on my social media profiles and more and more I’m trying to make sure I’m weaving this into my introductions, my email sign offs, anywhere I write my name.

It started with modifying my contracts to remove all reference to binary gender (he / she) for our first retreat almost 5 years ago now.  I remember some pretty awkward conversations with a very patient and trusted friend about how do I ask if people want to be in a room with someone who’s a different gender to them without asking their gender (sounds dumb now, but it took me a good 30 minutes to figure out how to do it).

As we see more and more people using pronouns, there are more and more conversations happening - and I’ve been getting a few questions lately.

Ok so maybe I start some of those conversations by choosing to introduce myself with my pronouns to a bunch of Southland farmer volunteer fire fighters, but hey, we’re all achieving zen in our own way and I have found these folx to be amazingly up for a conversation when I least expected it.

So this video is a slight diversion  from our regular programming - but it’s all part of being a decent human being.  I hope it sparks a conversation, and maybe it gives you a couple more stories to retell.  We’re all navigating this together, and it’s ok to make mistakes while we learn :)