Tbh as a cis woman I'm really happy about the mandatory pronouns too. Tons of people online stick to the generic "he" when talking about a user. It was always annoying when people on the old sub said something like "He has a point" or whatever. Each time I'd struggle between not wanting to make a big deal out of it by correcting them, but also wanting to push back against the idea that it's only brocialists on r/CTH. Plus it's cool to scroll down and see she/her and realise you're not the only woman commenting, particularly when there's something about sexism or feminism. It's made me less hesitant to push back against some stuff.

There's studies that show that using people's chosen names/pronouns decreases depression and suicidal thoughts in trans people, that's enough for me to do it.

it's actually done a lot to affect how people relate to each other here. there's a lot less masculinity being flung around here than on the old sub. it's still not great but it's better than it used to be.

it's good for all of us, not purely for us transes.

Neil Gaiman wrote this years ago, and it's something I try to remember when these conversations come up:

"I was reading a book (about interjections, oddly enough) yesterday which included the phrase “In these days of political correctness…” talking about no longer making jokes that denigrated people for their culture or for the colour of their skin. And I thought, “That’s not actually anything to do with ‘political correctness’. That’s just treating other people with respect.”

Which made me oddly happy. I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase “politically correct” wherever we could with “treating other people with respect”, and it made me smile.

You should try it. It’s peculiarly enlightening.

I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking “Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!”

Literally costs you nothing to treat someone with respect by using their chosen pronouns.

Because taking someone else feelings on their personal autonomy into account for a fraction of a second is a violation of my rights goddammit!

Trans rights are human rights, love you all.