Of the many forms of misgendering that transgender people experience, research has focused on the usage of gender pronouns as one key aspect that transgender people face. Research has found that for transgender people, their personal identification of gender pronouns is very significant for them and their well-being. Thus, research has argued that mispronouncing shall be understood as a form of discursive microagression against transgender people.
Much research about transgender people and gender pronouns has been conducted in the English-speaking world. Comparatively, there is very little known about transgender people’s subjective attitudes towards gender pronouns, and their experiences of using gender pronouns in the Chinese-speaking world. Therefore, this paper focuses on a Hong Kong context, which is theoretically interesting as (1) it involves an examination of transgender people’s use of gender pronouns in a bilingual context; and (2) there is no protection against discrimination on the grounds of gender identity; nor is there legal gender recognition in Hong Kong – these social and legal constraints allow for an examination of the challenges transgender people face when they use gender pronouns and the resilience and agency they display.
Drawing on a survey of 234 transgender people in Hong Kong conducted in collaboration with non-governmental organizations working with transgender people – the largest-scale study of transgender people in Hong Kong – this paper investigates (1) their attitudes towards gender pronouns (Chinese vs English; gender-specific vs gender-neutral); (2) the frequency, significance, and difficulties of getting their significant others in life (such as family members, partners and friends) and service providers in using their gender pronouns.
Taken together, this paper contributes to understanding non-binary, gender-inclusive, and gender-non-conforming language cross-linguistically, as well as centres on the importance of such language in transgender people’s lives.
