Oxford University in England has issued an instruction encouraging its students to replace the pronouns "he" and "she" with "ze" as part of its effort to show conformity with society's growing acceptance of the LGBTQ culture.
The students' union has issued a leaflet containing a list of acceptable pronouns to avoid making transgender students offended, according to The Sunday Times. Using the wrong pronoun, the behaviour code stated, is an offence that disrespects the right of people who refuse to define themselves as either male or female.
Peter Tatchell, an LGBT rights campaigner, told the Daily Mail that Oxford University has taken the right step towards progress. "It is a positive thing to not always emphasise gender divisions and barriers," he said. "It is good to have gender-neutral pronouns for those who want them, but it shouldn't be compulsory."
Tatchell said the university's move is not focused on being politically correct, nor is it censoring anyone's rights. "It's about acknowledging the fact of changing gender identities and respecting people's right to not define themselves as male or female," he explained. "Giving people the 'ze' option is a thoughtful, considerate move."
Other schools, such as Cambridge University, are already planning to make a similar move. They are going to suggest the gender-neutral pronouns during a lecture and see how it is received by the students.
"Events start with a speaker introducing themselves using a gender neutral pronoun," said Sophie Buck, welfare officer of the Students' Union. "It's part of a drive to make the union intersectional."
Franky Sissons, a transgender student of King's College at Cambridge, is all for these developments. "Gender neutral pronouns are good," he noted. "It should happen in lectures, too."
Of course, not everybody is gung-ho with the idea. When Jordan Peterson, a professor in Canada, uploaded a video on YouTube expressing his stance against the use of gender-neutral pronouns, he was met with a lot of opposition.
People heckled him relentlessly, and his office door was even glued shut as a prank. "U.K. universities should resist this. Whole disciplines have become irretrievable from these doctrines," he stressed.
