Personal pronouns and person perception – Do paired and nonbinary pronouns evoke a normative gender bias?
(2023) In British Journal of Psychology p.1-22- Abstract
- Research on gender-fair language aims to identify language inclusive to a multitude of individuals, for example, increasing the visibility of women by using paired pronouns (he/she) instead of generic masculine forms (he). However, binary presentations like he/she might come with unwanted side effects and evoke what we label as normative gender bias. A normative gender bias is defined as when words lead to stronger associations with individuals with normative gender expressions than with individuals with non-normative gender expressions, thus contributing to making non-normative individuals invisible. In three experiments, we compared the extent to which the paired pronoun he/she (Swedish and English), the neo-pronouns hen (Swedish), ze... (More)
- Research on gender-fair language aims to identify language inclusive to a multitude of individuals, for example, increasing the visibility of women by using paired pronouns (he/she) instead of generic masculine forms (he). However, binary presentations like he/she might come with unwanted side effects and evoke what we label as normative gender bias. A normative gender bias is defined as when words lead to stronger associations with individuals with normative gender expressions than with individuals with non-normative gender expressions, thus contributing to making non-normative individuals invisible. In three experiments, we compared the extent to which the paired pronoun he/she (Swedish and English), the neo-pronouns hen (Swedish), ze (English), and the generic pronoun singular they (English) evoked a normative gender bias. Swedish- (N = 219 and 268) and English- (N = 837, from the UK) speaking participants read about individuals referred to with the paired pronoun he/she or with hen, ze, or they. In Experiment 1 (Swedish), there was no main effect of condition on a normative bias, but in Experiment 2 (Swedish), the paired pronouns he/she evoked normative gender bias while hen did not. In Experiment 3 (English), both ze and singular they evoked normative gender bias, although normative associations were lower in these conditions compared to he/she. Furthermore, the normative bias was lower among participants who had knowledge about the use of ze as a nonbinary pronoun. Finally, neither ze nor they evoked a normative gender bias when their use was explicitly stated to be nonbinary. A potential explanation for why singular they did not generally result in less normative associations, despite almost all participants knowing about it, may include its more common use as a generic pronoun. Taken together, our results suggest that neo-pronouns, but not paired pronouns, have the potential to evoke less normative associations, but that they must be both (1) actively created new words and (2) well-known to language users as nonbinary pronouns. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/57859bbe-e604-4cb4-ada3-93178baf9f1b
- author
- Renström, Emma LU ; Lindqvist Eneroth, Anna LU ; Klysing, Amanda LU and Sendén, Marie Gustafsson
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023-11-20
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- gender expression, gender-fair language, nonbinary identities, nonbinary pronouns, normative gender bias, pronouns, transgender
- in
- British Journal of Psychology
- pages
- 1 - 22
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85177239643
- pmid:37984412
- ISSN
- 2044-8295
- DOI
- 10.1111/bjop.12686
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 57859bbe-e604-4cb4-ada3-93178baf9f1b
- date added to LUP
- 2023-11-22 09:03:01
- date last changed
- 2024-03-27 14:47:51
@article{57859bbe-e604-4cb4-ada3-93178baf9f1b,
abstract = {{Research on gender-fair language aims to identify language inclusive to a multitude of individuals, for example, increasing the visibility of women by using paired pronouns (he/she) instead of generic masculine forms (he). However, binary presentations like he/she might come with unwanted side effects and evoke what we label as normative gender bias. A normative gender bias is defined as when words lead to stronger associations with individuals with normative gender expressions than with individuals with non-normative gender expressions, thus contributing to making non-normative individuals invisible. In three experiments, we compared the extent to which the paired pronoun he/she (Swedish and English), the neo-pronouns hen (Swedish), ze (English), and the generic pronoun singular they (English) evoked a normative gender bias. Swedish- (N = 219 and 268) and English- (N = 837, from the UK) speaking participants read about individuals referred to with the paired pronoun he/she or with hen, ze, or they. In Experiment 1 (Swedish), there was no main effect of condition on a normative bias, but in Experiment 2 (Swedish), the paired pronouns he/she evoked normative gender bias while hen did not. In Experiment 3 (English), both ze and singular they evoked normative gender bias, although normative associations were lower in these conditions compared to he/she. Furthermore, the normative bias was lower among participants who had knowledge about the use of ze as a nonbinary pronoun. Finally, neither ze nor they evoked a normative gender bias when their use was explicitly stated to be nonbinary. A potential explanation for why singular they did not generally result in less normative associations, despite almost all participants knowing about it, may include its more common use as a generic pronoun. Taken together, our results suggest that neo-pronouns, but not paired pronouns, have the potential to evoke less normative associations, but that they must be both (1) actively created new words and (2) well-known to language users as nonbinary pronouns.}},
author = {{Renström, Emma and Lindqvist Eneroth, Anna and Klysing, Amanda and Sendén, Marie Gustafsson}},
issn = {{2044-8295}},
keywords = {{gender expression; gender-fair language; nonbinary identities; nonbinary pronouns; normative gender bias; pronouns; transgender}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{11}},
pages = {{1--22}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{British Journal of Psychology}},
title = {{Personal pronouns and person perception – Do paired and nonbinary pronouns evoke a normative gender bias?}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12686}},
doi = {{10.1111/bjop.12686}},
year = {{2023}},
}