Taking pride in pronouns

Understanding and recognizing gender identities is important to delivering inclusive, patient-centered health care. Often, pronouns have a gender implied which are not always accurate or needed. Understanding how to correctly use and share one’s pronouns is a sign of safety and respect.

Unfortunately, often people aren’t aware of how to do this. That’s why Lucie Ménard and Ashley Perreault decided to take action.

Lucie, a second-year NOSM medical student in Sudbury, and Ashley, a first-year NOSM medical student in Thunder Bay, are both the Local Officers of Reproductive and Sexual Health (LORSH) for NOSM, and sit on a national committee with LORSH representatives from 13 medical schools across Canada. During a meeting, the group identified the misuse of pronouns as an important issue nationwide.

“After our meeting, we consulted with fellow medical students, colleagues, and friends from the Queer community about their experiences with pronoun misuse. What we learned is that individuals feel a sense of security when asked or addressed by their preferred pronouns. Hearing this, we wanted to normalize pronoun use and create an environment that is welcoming and inclusive for all gender identities,” says Ashley.

An eye-catching solution was proposed—a wearable pronoun pin. The students collaborated with community members and the NOSM Library and Communications teams to create the pins and develop a complete initiative for distribution. The pins can be attached to a lanyard, lab coat or clothing to highlight an individual’s preferred pronoun. The pins also spark conversation about the importance of pronouns.

“Proper pronoun use was something we as medical students were all aware of, but we didn’t receive formal education on this topic. As LORSHs we decided to take this initiative as an opportunity to educate ourselves and our NOSM community on pronoun use through an infographic and a subject guide” says Lucie.

Recognizing that an infographic wouldn’t be sufficient to close the knowledge gap, they built a subject guide available through the NOSM Library. The subject guide was developed by Jennifer Dumond, Danica Desjardins, Aidan Goertzen and LORSH. It highlights evidence-based research and resources regarding Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer and other gender-fluid communities (​2SLGBTQ+).

The uptake was high. “The response has been very positive. The library subject guide has had over 470 views so far and individuals have been thanking us for this one-stop-shop for educational resources and for starting the conversation. Over 240 people from NOSM signed up to receive a pronoun pin, including learners, staff, faculty and residents,” says Lucie.

NOSM partners, health-care centres, hospitals and medical schools across the country have also taken notice. Health Sciences North (HSN) in Sudbury reached out and are working with Ashley and Lucie to launch a pronoun pin initiative at the hospital during Pride week. Two other medical schools have asked for guidance to create something similar at their school.

“Allyship means taking action and we hope to inspire other students to work on the projects they’re passionate about,” says Ashley. “I hope we inspire students to collaborate with other departments and staff at NOSM who have allowed us to make this initiative a reality. We couldn’t have done this alone.”

Lucie also encourages everyone at NOSM to reflect on their surroundings and what health inequities are occurring in their community. “As medical students, we don’t have a lot of free time, but we chose to advocate for something that we’re passionate about.”

NOSM is making pronoun pins part of the orientation package for new medical students. “We’re hoping this will become part of the standard,” says Ashley. “It is important for the incoming students to recognize that NOSM is an inclusive community. As future health-care professionals, we hope the pins will also spark the conversation regarding inclusivity early on in their career.”

Want to learn more?

• Visit the NOSM Library’s 2SLGBTQ+ subject guide.
• Check out our quick reference infographic on The Use of Pronouns.

The Respect the Difference movement was developed by NOSM to bring awareness to a culture of kindness and respect in the learning and work environment. We hope that together, we can ignite a positive cultural change that is grounded in respect and reaches beyond the NOSM community. We encourage all Canadian medical schools and the medical sector to join our movement.

We all have the potential to be changemakers, and we have the mutual responsibility to take action toward a culture of kindness, respect and compassion. It starts here at NOSM. It starts with you.

Become a Changemaker.