ABOUT "PREFERRED PRONOUNS"

Recently the request for "preferred pronouns" has become policy in some business and academic institutions. Use of preferred pronouns is not needed for Sovereign Women Speak events. We are all female (natal women) who participate in our female-centered retreats, so if a woman doesn’t want to “identify” as a woman, it is unlikely that she will choose to participate.  The preferred pronouns push in popular culture today is actually one of the ways patriarchal ideology uses language to disassociate us from the reality of our sexed bodies, insisting instead on how one "identifies." This is a powerful example of how words are used to promote an agenda that our bodies do not matter. This is an erasure of the historical and continued oppression of women and girls as a class on the basis of sex. Please do not use preferred pronouns for Sovereign Women Speak events. Your name alone is perfect! Thank you!