The use of ‘they’ as a third person singular pronoun has recently become a heated debate, often with the identity – or even existence – of queer people at stake. Some arguments in favour point to the history of language or upholding the ideal of politeness but this gentle approach destroys the revolutionary potential of queering language. There are real, revolutionary grounds for the use of ‘they/them’ pronouns and these are where we should focus our energy, writes Jasmine Picôt Chapman.

“The battle over gender-neutral and now non-binary pronouns has always been a battle over which world we want: the one that already exists, or the one that might.”

- Amia Srinivasan

It is counterintuitive to ask straight society for permission to be free from the gender binary. Despite this, recent arguments for using ‘they’ as a third person singular pronoun seek validity from the grammatical rules, historical development and social etiquette of a society where being straight is the norm, to the detriment of imagining queerer futures.