Respecting Pronouns at Brave Trails
At Brave Trails, it’s always been important for us to provide a place where campers can be themselves. In order to honor that, part of our community agreements includes respecting folks' names and pronouns at camp and providing the space for campers to safely try new names and pronouns.
WHAT ARE PRONOUNS?
Pronouns are used to take the place of a noun, oftentimes a name. (Some examples of pronouns are: she/her/hers or he/him/his)
WHAT ARE GENDER NEUTRAL PRONOUNS?
Gender neutral pronouns are words used to refer to someone who does not identify as male or female, someone that is genderfluid, or someone who has not yet told you their gender identity and/or pronouns. (Some examples of gender neutral pronouns include, but are not limited to: they/them/theirs, zey/zim/zers, and ey/em/eirs)
HOW DO I ASK SOMEONE ABOUT THEIR PRONOUNS?
First and foremost, don’t assume someone's pronouns based on their gender expression. Someone's pronouns are not based on the way they present their gender through their behavior, mannerisms, interests, and/or appearance. It’s important to get out of the mindset of assuming someone's gender based on their appearance and instead providing them the space to disclose their gender identity and pronouns to you.
Asking is as simple as adding “what are your pronouns?” to your introductions with folks when you start a conversation. If you are in a group setting try something like “let’s go around the room and share our names and pronouns before we start the meeting.” The more we make this process a part of our routine, the more it will catch on and provide the space for us to actively respect and honor folks' identities.
It’s also a great idea to have pronouns normalized in a variety of ways like on email signatures, name tags, and pronoun pins.
HOW DO WE INCORPORATE PRONOUNS AT CAMP?
One of the awesome ways we incorporate and normalize pronouns inside and out of camp is by providing custom square buttons to our campers (like the pronoun pins in the photo above created through Sticker Mule). Campers use these pronoun pins on their lanyard to show others the pronouns they’d like to be used when being referred to. We also provide extra pronoun pins in their cabins in case they might want to switch them out and try a different pronoun.
WHERE DO WE ORDER OUR PRONOUN PINS?
We love ordering pins from Sticker Mule because they offer discounts on bulk orders (and we order a lot of pronoun pins for our campers!). We also love how easy it is to create these durable full color pins as they offer an easy to use website and provide fast proofing. Order some pronoun pins for your camp, school, or upcoming event today at www.stickermule.com