{"id":64432,"date":"2022-08-22T16:02:32","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T20:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=64432"},"modified":"2022-08-22T16:02:32","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T20:02:32","slug":"college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/","title":{"rendered":"College students are increasingly identifying beyond \u2018she\u2019 and \u2018he\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nWhen students today fill out their college applications, they are not just identifying as \u201cshe\u201d or \u201che.\u201d More than 3% of incoming college students use a different set of pronouns. That\u2019s according to my analysis<\/a> of the more than 1.2 million applications submitted for the 2022-23 school year through the Common App<\/a>, an online application platform used by more than 900 colleges.<\/p>\n

While 3% may not seem like a lot, it represents nearly 37,000 students. It is also indicative of a growing number of young people who identify outside of a gender binary \u2013 that is, they do not identify as female or male. For example, the percentage of college students who indicated that they are nonbinary on one national survey has nearly tripled from 1.4% <\/a>in 2016 to 4.1% <\/a>in 2021.<\/p>\n

Beyond the binary<\/strong>
\nIn analyzing the data from the Common App, I found that 2.2% of students \u2013 more than 26,000 individuals \u2013 who applied to college for this fall identified as transgender or nonbinary. This figure is likely an undercount because some students may be reluctant to indicate their gender identity on an admissions form. For instance, students often complete their college applications with their families and are unlikely to state that they are trans or nonbinary if they are not out to them.<\/p>\n

The leaders of the Common App provided me with data from the college applications for the 2022-23 school year so that I could analyze how students today identify their gender and what pronouns they use. Students\u2019 names and other identifying information were withheld.<\/p>\n

In looking at how students named their gender and pronouns on the Common App, two contrasting trends stood out to me.<\/p>\n

One is the number of ways that nonbinary students have developed to describe their gender. Whereas trans people used relatively few gender identity labels for themselves when I came out as nonbinary in the late 1990s<\/a>, these students provided approximately 130 different genders and about 78 different pronoun sets \u2013 from \u201cae\/aem<\/a>,\u201d which was first used in a 1920 science fiction novel with third-gender characters who were born from air, to \u201cze\/zir<\/a>,\u201d which is likely based on the German plural third-person pronoun \u201csie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unique expressions<\/strong>
\nThrough their use of different gender labels and pronouns, young nonbinary people are making detailed distinctions between different gender identities and showing how gender is unique to the individual. For example, the most common gender identity written in by the students was \u201cgenderfluid,\u201d which was given by more than 40% of the write-ins. At the same time, many students named the specific way that their gender is fluid, such as genderfae individuals<\/a>, whose gender can be fluid between feminine genders, nonbinary genders and genderlessness but which does not encompass masculine genders.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the proliferation of gender labels, the other major trend among the college applicants was the common use of \u201cthey\/them\u201d pronouns.<\/p>\n

Of the students who went by pronouns other than just \u201cshe\/her\u201d or \u201che\/him,\u201d nearly 97% indicated using \u201cthey\/them\u201d as one of their pronoun sets. Just 19 students reported using only neopronouns, or new pronouns \u2013 that is, third-person singular pronouns other than the common ones of she, he, they and it \u2013 for themselves.<\/p>\n

The use of \u201cthey\/them\u201d in the singular is not new. The practice goes back at least to the 1300s.<\/a> The singular \u201cthey\/them\u201d fell out of favor in the 1800s, when \u201che\/him\u201d began to be widely used generically to refer to someone in the third person<\/a>, despite opposition from many women.<\/p>\n

Questions of acceptance<\/strong>
\nUnlike earlier attempts to create a singular third-person pronoun<\/a>, the singular \u201cthey\/them\u201d has caught on in the larger society<\/a>. It is considered appropriate language by online dictionaries,<\/a> writing style guidelines<\/a> and the news media<\/a>. \u201cThey\u201d in the singular was even declared \u201cword of the year<\/a>\u201d by Merriam-Webster in 2019. The American Dialect Society designated \u201cthey\u201d as \u201cword of the decade<\/a>\u201d for the 2010s.<\/p>\n

The widespread usage of \u201cthey\/them\u201d may be a recognition by many nonbinary students of the difficulty of getting others to use pronouns that may not be well known even in trans communities. This was my own experience.<\/p>\n

When I came out as nonbinary decades ago, I asked others to use \u201cze\/hir<\/a>\u201d \u2013 pronounced \u201czee\u201d and \u201chere\u201d \u2013 for me. But few people did. Unlike \u201cthey\/them,\u201d it was not language they knew or were comfortable using. After a few years, I decided to go by \u201cthey\/them\u201d and found people generally more willing and readily able to respect my identity. It certainly helped that I worked in higher education directing an LGBTQ+ center.<\/p>\n

Challenges remain<\/strong>
\nDespite the growing visibility of neopronouns today<\/a>, people who use these pronouns still struggle to get others to learn and respect them. Neopronouns are hardly more accepted in the larger society now than they were when I used them in the late 1990s, or when they were proposed as early as the 1700s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To learn all the genders and pronouns used by nonbinary people today would be a difficult task and never-ending, as more and more genders and pronouns will undoubtedly continue to be devised.<\/p>\n

But knowing all possible gender options should not be the point. What I think matters is knowing how the people in our lives see their gender and what pronouns they use for themselves and then using these pronouns.<\/p>\n

This may involve learning different words to refer to someone, but people are always learning new terms. How many people knew the word \u201ccoronavirus\u201d five years ago?<\/p>\n

Using new pronouns for others affirms who they are and enables them to feel respected and seen. For many young nonbinary people who report that they are often misgendered<\/a>, receiving support for their gender identities can improve their mental health and reduce their sense of social stigma<\/a>. It really does not take much to learn to use pronouns like \u201cze\/hir\u201d or \u201cxe\/xem\u201d (pronounced \u201czee\u201d and \u201czem\u201d), but it can go a long way toward building a positive relationship with someone and creating an inclusive culture for nonbinary people.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Genny Beemyn is Director, Stonewall Center at UMass Amherst<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When students today fill out their college applications, they are not just identifying as \u201cshe\u201d or \u201che.\u201d More than 3% of incoming college students use a different set of pronouns. That\u2019s according to my analysis of the more than 1.2 million applications submitted for the 2022-23 school year through the Common App, an online application […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[350659],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-64432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-pronouns"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCollege students are increasingly identifying beyond \u2018she\u2019 and \u2018he\u2019 - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"College students are increasingly identifying beyond \u2018she\u2019 and \u2018he\u2019 - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When students today fill out their college applications, they are not just identifying as \u201cshe\u201d or \u201che.\u201d More than 3% of incoming college students use a different set of pronouns. That\u2019s according to my analysis of the more than 1.2 million applications submitted for the 2022-23 school year through the Common App, an online application […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-22T20:02:32+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nonbinarygraduate.jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"College students are increasingly identifying beyond \u2018she\u2019 and \u2018he\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-22T20:02:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1012,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/nonbinarygraduate.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"pronouns\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\\\/\",\"name\":\"College students are increasingly identifying beyond \u2018she\u2019 and \u2018he\u2019 - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/nonbinarygraduate.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-22T20:02:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/nonbinarygraduate.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/nonbinarygraduate.jpeg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":395},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"College students are increasingly identifying beyond \u2018she\u2019 and \u2018he\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"College students are increasingly identifying beyond \u2018she\u2019 and \u2018he\u2019 - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"College students are increasingly identifying beyond \u2018she\u2019 and \u2018he\u2019 - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"When students today fill out their college applications, they are not just identifying as \u201cshe\u201d or \u201che.\u201d More than 3% of incoming college students use a different set of pronouns. That\u2019s according to my analysis of the more than 1.2 million applications submitted for the 2022-23 school year through the Common App, an online application […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2022-08-22T20:02:32+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nonbinarygraduate.jpeg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"College students are increasingly identifying beyond \u2018she\u2019 and \u2018he\u2019","datePublished":"2022-08-22T20:02:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/"},"wordCount":1012,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nonbinarygraduate.jpeg","keywords":["pronouns"],"articleSection":["Lifestyle"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/","name":"College students are increasingly identifying beyond \u2018she\u2019 and \u2018he\u2019 - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nonbinarygraduate.jpeg","datePublished":"2022-08-22T20:02:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nonbinarygraduate.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nonbinarygraduate.jpeg","width":680,"height":395},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-students-are-increasingly-identifying-beyond-she-and-he\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"College students are increasingly identifying beyond \u2018she\u2019 and \u2018he\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64434,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64432\/revisions\/64434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64432"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=64432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}