Pronoun or Antinoun?

What portion of Americans say they personally know someone who prefers a pronoun other than ‘he’ or ‘she’?

1. How surprised are you by this information?

2. How accurate was your prediction?

3. What story does the data tell?

4. How do you explain the story these data tell?

5. Explain one impact of this story on American politics.

6. Is this story good news?

7. How different do you think this data will be in one decade?

8. How different do you think this data would have been if it had only been asked of high school students?

9. Do you personally know someone who prefers a pronoun other than ‘he’ or ‘she’?

10. My son is a high school sophomore, he says that at his high school, the pronoun question isn’t even a legitimate issue for hardly anyone, “Duh, Dad!” How different is his school from yours?

11. Explain which current American politician would be the least-likely to use a gender-neutral pronoun.

12. What question do you have about this information?

13. It has been said that one of the strongest divides in the United States is between rural (red) and urban (blue) America. How divided is America in regards to pronoun usage?

14. In the little-known Federalist No. 847, Alexander Hamilton wrote, “if a girl shall be named as a boy; and a boy shall be named as a girl, then the foundations of this mighty nations shall shudder.” What do you think he meant by this?

15. I know some folks who are legitimately confused just by the idea of gender neutral pronouns. Generally, the older they are the more confused they are. Based on the data in the charts below* what generalization would you make about people who are opposed to the use of gender-neutral pronouns.*

16. How does political party identification impact views on pronoun usage?*

17. Which signer of the Constitution do you think would be most confused by the use of gender-neutral pronouns today?

18. Does the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the use of gender neutral pronouns?

19. Imagine that you wanted the 28th Amendment to prohibit gender neutral pronouns. What steps would you have to take to get that Amendment ratified?

20. Explain what year America will elect our first gender-neutral pronoun-using president. (NOTUS?)

Visual Extension*

Learning Extension

Read the Pew Research Center’s report on pronouns.

Action Extension

Find out which American politicians (if any) use gender-neutral pronouns when referring to themselves. Share your answer in class. This politician could be from the local, state, or national (go federalism) level. They could represent your area or not. Contact them and ask them to share something about their pronoun story with your classmates. Share your findings in class or online.