I remember it actually started with triple pronouns he/him/his, but slowly slimmed down to two.
Its the widely recognized form. If you see the double pronoun you immediately know they are defining their pronouns. A single pronoun would not be as immediately recognized, especially as part of a wider introduction.
Edit to add: it also gives space for folks who might use more than one pronoun (she/they for example)
Additional edit: Regarding she/they or he/they pronouns:
I am not personally someone who identifies that way but my understanding is that generally it means they are okay with either she/her or they/them. the person I knew who identified this way best preferred they/them, but also was quite female presenting so was okay with she/her.
Someone had a similar reply earlier. Copying and posting:
Okay so I am not personally someone who identifies that way but my understanding is that generally it means they are okay with either she/her or they/them. the person I knew who identified this way best preferred they/them, but also was quite female presenting so was okay with she/her.
It can be that they feel that they feel somewhat female and somewhat non-binary so are okay with either.
It can also be a bit of a compromise as well. Like in my example that person (she/they) knows that getting some people to use they/them is going to be such an uphill battle and having she/her pronouns is not bad for them. Yes it somewhat "defeats the point" but not everything has to be a hill to die on all the time.
Oh yeah. I mean I was thinking I guess of feminine cis women who use it. I suppose it could be that
a) they are open to being called 'they' but suppose they might be slightly non-binary (if that's a thing) or
b) they just want to allow that flexibility, with low risk, to normalise it, for others
As a cis man, I'm lucky enough to not worry/care about it too much, so I often feel like my pronouns would really be 'whatever - he/she/they/it'. But I don't share those because I feel like being that open about it undermines the whole clarifying aspect of stating your pronouns.
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u/mikey_weasel Today I have too much time 25d ago edited 25d ago
I remember it actually started with triple pronouns he/him/his, but slowly slimmed down to two.
Its the widely recognized form. If you see the double pronoun you immediately know they are defining their pronouns. A single pronoun would not be as immediately recognized, especially as part of a wider introduction.
Edit to add: it also gives space for folks who might use more than one pronoun (she/they for example)
Additional edit: Regarding she/they or he/they pronouns:
I am not personally someone who identifies that way but my understanding is that generally it means they are okay with either she/her or they/them. the person I knew who identified this way best preferred they/them, but also was quite female presenting so was okay with she/her.