In what could be termed as an extremely thought provoking move, the students of the Oxford University have been directed to refer each other using gender neutral pronouns such as “ze” and not “he” or “she”.
This is being done, so as to not offend the transgender students. According to reports, using incorrect pronoun was also an offence under Oxford’s behaviour code.
Reports further suggest that the rule applies to the faculty members as well and will also be included in university lectures and seminars.
“It is a positive thing to not always emphasise gender divisions and barriers. It is good to have gender-neutral pronouns for those who want them but it shouldn’t be compulsory,” LGBT campaigner Peter Tatchell told MailOnline.
Adding that using gender neutral pronoun was a considerate move, Peter asserted that, the issue was not about being “politically correct or censoring anyone. It’s about acknowledging the fact of changing gender identities and respecting people’s right to not define themselves as male or female”.
However, this is not the only university move into this direction. Last year, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, United States had urged its students and the staff to use gender neutral pronouns like ze, xe, hir, hirs and zirs for people who do not wish to identiy with a particular gender.
They had said that the Transgender people or even the people who do not identify themselves with the gender assigned to them at birth can use a different name than their legal name and pronounds of the identify they wished to be identified with.
