Pronouns
What are your preferred pronouns?
Why, thank you for asking!
I prefer xe/xem or ze/zem pronouns. Either pair works equally well - use whichever feels right in the moment!
For possessive pronouns I like xyr or zyr
Here's an example sentence: "I met xem at xyr house and xe drove me to the concert"
How do you pronounce them?
The 'X' and 'Z' can both be pronounced /z/, like the 'Z' in 'Zebra'
If you want to do something fancy to distinguish the consonants, for instance to use /d͡z/ for 'Z' and /x/ for 'X,' I support that as well!
'Xe' and 'Ze' rhyme with 'He'
'Xem' and 'Zem' rhyme with 'Them'
'Xyr' and 'Zyr' rhyme with 'Her'
Why not use they/them?
Grammatical Number
In English, they/them can be used to refer to either one person or multiple people. This can lead to ambiguity
Consider this sentence: "Kyle went with Beechy to the concert. When they came back, their fingernails were painted neon colors." Did they both come back, or just Kyle? Whose fingernails were painted?
Now try this one: "Kyle went with Beechy to the concert. When they came back, zyr fingernails were painted neon colors." To me, this more clearly implies that both Beechy and Kyle came back, but that it's Kyle's fingernails that we're talking about
Why both xe/xem and ze/zem?
Reduced Ambiguity for Multiple Subjects
Having two options for pronouns can help make it clear who we're referring to when talking about more than one person
Consider this passage: "Beechy drove xyr blue car to Kyle's concert. After the opening act, Kyle drove onstage in a jet black car, matching xyr hair. By the end of the show, the power of Music had turned both xyr car and xyr hair rainbow colored!"
At the end of the show, whose car is rainbow colored? It's not completely clear
Now try this one: "Beechy drove xyr blue car to Kyle's concert. After the opening act, Kyle drove onstage in a jet black car, matching zyr hair. By the end of the show, the power of Music had turned both xyr car and zyr hair rainbow colored!"
With this wording (in written text at least), we clearly know that Beechy's car is the one that magically changed color
Duality
The idea of gender nonconformity to me represents the freedom to explore the wide reaches of possibility. Its nature is to set free, not to constrict
I enjoy the concept of gender fluidity. Having both xe/xem and ze/zem options both celebrates duality and provides a framework for the gender-fluid experience to flourish without the need to default to using traditional pronouns
Again, this is not to diminish those who prefer to fluctuate between he/him and she/her pronouns. On a personal note, before I decided on xe/xem/ze/zem pronouns I used to tell people that I don't mind what pronouns people use for me, but that I like it when they mix it up
I said this because I like both he/him and she/her pronouns (as well as others) and I enjoy being able to partake in one without forsaking the others. However, this resulted in most people just defaulting to he/him all the time, which kinda bummed me out. I decided to find suitable non-binary pronouns for friends to default to and landed on the delightful options described on this page!
