Gender-Inclusive Pronouns and Mental Representation of Nonbinary Individuals : The Role of Political Orientation
Remsö, Amanda ; Bäck, Hanna LU
and Renström, Emma A.
LU
(2026)
In Journal of Language and Social Psychology
- Abstract
Previous research has shown that gender-inclusive pronouns can facilitate mental representation of nonbinary individuals. However, considering that gender and pronoun use are politicized in many countries, such that individuals with a right-wing political orientation show more skepticism toward nonbinarity, these effects may be compromised. Across four studies (Ntotal = 2,847), we tested whether the gender-inclusive pronouns hen (Swedish) and they (English) evoke mental representations of individuals with stereotypical gender-nonconforming versus gender-conforming appearances, depending on the participants’ political orientation. Studies 1a and 1b showed that a right-wing political orientation was related to a lower... (More)
Previous research has shown that gender-inclusive pronouns can facilitate mental representation of nonbinary individuals. However, considering that gender and pronoun use are politicized in many countries, such that individuals with a right-wing political orientation show more skepticism toward nonbinarity, these effects may be compromised. Across four studies (Ntotal = 2,847), we tested whether the gender-inclusive pronouns hen (Swedish) and they (English) evoke mental representations of individuals with stereotypical gender-nonconforming versus gender-conforming appearances, depending on the participants’ political orientation. Studies 1a and 1b showed that a right-wing political orientation was related to a lower likelihood of associating gender-inclusive pronouns with stereotypical gender-nonconforming appearances. Studies 2a and 2b showed that these results were robust both when the function of the pronoun was to anonymize the referent and when the function was to refer to a nonbinary individual. Study 2b further showed that binary gender beliefs contributed to this relationship. These results suggest that the capacity for gender-inclusive pronouns to contribute to mental representation of nonbinary individuals varies in part with the recipient's political orientation and preexisting beliefs about gender. More broadly, the results contribute to the understanding of how political orientation influences the processes of social categorization related to gender.
(Less)
- author
- Remsö, Amanda
; Bäck, Hanna
LU
and Renström, Emma A.
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- in press
- subject
- keywords
- gender, gender-inclusive pronouns, polarization, political identity, politicization
- in
- Journal of Language and Social Psychology
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105032129416
- ISSN
- 0261-927X
- DOI
- 10.1177/0261927X261430393
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
- id
- cbdc6438-c114-4097-85b9-e35b90cbe0d6
- date added to LUP
- 2026-05-12 14:45:06
- date last changed
- 2026-05-12 14:46:03
@article{cbdc6438-c114-4097-85b9-e35b90cbe0d6,
abstract = {{<p>Previous research has shown that gender-inclusive pronouns can facilitate mental representation of nonbinary individuals. However, considering that gender and pronoun use are politicized in many countries, such that individuals with a right-wing political orientation show more skepticism toward nonbinarity, these effects may be compromised. Across four studies (N<sub>total </sub>= 2,847), we tested whether the gender-inclusive pronouns hen (Swedish) and they (English) evoke mental representations of individuals with stereotypical gender-nonconforming versus gender-conforming appearances, depending on the participants’ political orientation. Studies 1a and 1b showed that a right-wing political orientation was related to a lower likelihood of associating gender-inclusive pronouns with stereotypical gender-nonconforming appearances. Studies 2a and 2b showed that these results were robust both when the function of the pronoun was to anonymize the referent and when the function was to refer to a nonbinary individual. Study 2b further showed that binary gender beliefs contributed to this relationship. These results suggest that the capacity for gender-inclusive pronouns to contribute to mental representation of nonbinary individuals varies in part with the recipient's political orientation and preexisting beliefs about gender. More broadly, the results contribute to the understanding of how political orientation influences the processes of social categorization related to gender.</p>}},
author = {{Remsö, Amanda and Bäck, Hanna and Renström, Emma A.}},
issn = {{0261-927X}},
keywords = {{gender; gender-inclusive pronouns; polarization; political identity; politicization}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Journal of Language and Social Psychology}},
title = {{Gender-Inclusive Pronouns and Mental Representation of Nonbinary Individuals : The Role of Political Orientation}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0261927X261430393}},
doi = {{10.1177/0261927X261430393}},
year = {{2026}},
}