M&S diversity officers give staff pronoun badges……. a step too far?

PS only joking I don’t go shopping in M&S any more, nothing in there I want to buy.

It matters because safeguarding is based on sex not gender. toilets, prisons, women refuges etc should be based on sex. let's not confuse sex and gender.
If a boy wears a dress is he a girl. or is he a boy in a dress?

What does it matter to you, as an individual if someone identifies as other than their sex?

It doesn't unless they then want to access single sex spaces that don't correspond to their sex, no matter how they identify. It doesn't unless they want to participate in sports categories that don't correspond to their sex no matter how they identify.

Identify how you like but respect my right to my sex class and the words associated with it.

ginny

Staff have the option to request a name badge with pronouns. No one is being forced to have them.

Good. That’s as it should be. So the initial news was media hype? What a surprise! Not.

fairplayforwomen.com/pronouns/
this explains it nicely

That article is nonsense

What does it matter to you, as an individual if someone identifies as other than their sex?

Why do I have to be informed of their sex? If it doesn't matter to me; why is there the need to tell me? All customers want to do is go in, buy their stuff, pay and leave. Why do they need to know anything personal about the shop assistant? I could see the relevance of "dyslexic" or "colour blind" on a badge because that could affect how they assist customers. But you still haven't explained what benefit providing pronouns is to the customer.

That article is nonsense

Why?

GrannyMacawell

It matters because safeguarding is based on sex not gender. toilets, prisons, women refuges etc should be based on sex. let's not confuse sex and gender.
If a boy wears a dress is he a girl. or is he a boy in a dress?

I think the nuance missing is that the danger, or perceived threat, tends to be from cis males when we discuss safeguarding on sex.

Transwomen, non-binary, and gender fluid people are incredibly vulnerable in terms of being victims of violence. Throwing them into a population of cis males b/c of their assignment at birth is like throwing an injured lamb among the wolves. Do they not deserve any protection?

As to your question, that depends on how they view themselves, doesn't it?

I'm not interested in policing someone else's identity. And since clothes don't have genitals, they're neither male nor female by any definition, so I'd simply say they were someone wearing a dress.

Frankly, Billy Porter looks absolutely fantastic in a ballgown.

I agree, VS. Also offensive and intolerant

I do care that the person who sevez me in a shop feels values and appreciated. Using preferred pronouns is such a small and easy way to show them.

I'm assiduous in showing shop staff respect, would never ever carry on a conservation either on the phone or with a companion while I'm being served. That's just rude and disrespectful. I've honestly never had to refer to a shop assistant with a third person pronoun within their hearing. I'm amazed that this is a regular ocurrence for you VioletSky, I'm struggling to see why you wouldn't be addressing the assistant as 'you' as in 'thank you', or 'can you help me please?'

It's woke virtue signalling Rosie51

safeguarding is based on sex. sex cannot be changed. identifying as a women therefore doesn't give anyone a free pass to avoid this. well it shouldn't. oh and sex is not assigned.,its an objective reality.
and yes of course no one shoukd be subjected to violence, but males in a female space is not the way to go

I didn't say it was a regular occurance but it does happen, if I leave a review or describe previously speaking to someone else.

It's always very odd when people seem to know more about why I think or how I live my life than I do.

safeguarding really should be the top priority, I agree

Women are not a human shield for men who also experience Male violence.

women are incredibly vulnerable to male violence.

VioletSky

I didn't say it was a regular occurance but it does happen, if I leave a review or describe previously speaking to someone else.

It's always very odd when people seem to know more about why I think or how I live my life than I do.

Sorry but I do care that the person who sevez me in a shop feels values and appreciated. Using preferred pronouns is such a small and easy way to show them seemed to indicate to me this was an "in person" occurrence that was more than a rarity.

I didn't claim to know more about why you think or how you live your life than you do. I stated that I was struggling with you using third person pronouns to an assistant in person.

I can't believe all this fuss about a choice being given of a badge with a chosen pronoun . If you don't want them that's fine but perhaps others do, have they no rights?

When I have used M&S changing rooms I have never seen who is in the cubicles next to me so I struggle to understand why they are an issue.

Gay men experience violence, black men experience violence, etc etc, should they be thrown to the wolves. It's not womens job to solve Male violence and its certainly not their job to act as a shield whilst at the same time having their safety compromised.

But Rosie I am here defending their rights to preferred pronouns because I value and appreciate these people.

Well there were comments about the article i linked :nonsense offensive and intolerant..but no real back up as to why?

I would like to see the statistics that show non binary men are less likely to offend than any other type of man.

VioletSky

But Rosie I am here defending their rights to preferred pronouns because I value and appreciate these people.

I show I value these people by thanking them, smiling, paying attention to them, treating them as I'd wish to be treated, in person, every single time. I don't wait to leave a review using a third person pronoun which in all probability they wouldn't even see.

The article is nonsense because imagine equating one of the worst things a woman can experience with using a preferred pronoun and then calling yourself feminist.

No one is going to slip a pronoun into your drink in a bar.

If you don't want to use someone's preferred pronouns you can easily, as demonstrated by many commentors who don't wish to, avoid them while still being polite.

No one is forcing you to do anything.

If you choose to deliberately (not accidentally) misgender someone, that's different and may have repurcussions.