INTHEBLACK February 2022 - Magazine - Page 50
F E AT U R E
// P E R S O N A L P R O N O U N S
Ro Allen, Victorian Equal
Opportunity and Human
Rights Commission. Image
credit: Justin McManus
“I’m a big believer that no organisation should force people
to put their pronouns on their email signature for a whole range
of reasons. I’ve seen that happen where people may not be
ready to publicly identify their pronouns.”
RO ALLEN, VICTORIAN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
R
o Allen, Victoria’s Equal Opportunity and
Human Rights Commissioner, says they walk
through the world with many pronouns attached
to them. From their mother using “she”, to
members of the LGBTQIA+ community using “they”,
to shopkeepers referring to them as “him” – gender is a
fluid concept for Allen, and one they have spent years
educating people about.
For anyone who has trouble grasping the concept
of gender identity, and who questions how Allen
can respond to all of the above pronouns, they say the
first premise to understand is that gender is fluid and
is a continuum.
“To understand the use of diverse pronouns, you
do need to understand there’s more than ‘male’ and
50 ITB February 2022
‘female’ or ‘woman’ and ‘man’. If you can sign up to
that, and you understand that, then obviously the
use of other pronouns becomes easier,” says Allen.
“I’m gender fluid – I say to people, pronoun me as
you see me. I’m OK with that, but others may not be.
When I’m educating groups, I say ‘It’s just manners’. If
somebody says, ‘This is my pronoun’, then you do your
best to use that pronoun.
“I think the trickiest group I have ever tried to
explain this to was some English teachers. They argued
it’s not grammatically correct and therefore you can’t
change it,” says Allen.
The English teachers are not the only ones grappling
with this interpretation of gender. For some people,
there is a degree of confusion in gender not necessarily