Oh My God: Is Calling Someone By The Wrong Pronoun A Title IX Violation At WVU?

Princeton University is banning the word “man” from their vocabulary on campus. At West Virginia University, is calling someone by the wrong pronoun a Title IX violation worthy of an investigation? Campus Reform noted that while the website makes it appear that the consequences would be as such; the administration said it’s all a mischaracterization. If so, they better clarify that on their website before the social justice warriors start ratting out students who might have called someone a person, or something (via Emily Larsen):

WVU Title IX Coordinator James Goins, Jr., however, maintains that this is a “misrepresentation of WVU and Title IX policy,” telling Campus Reform that the guidelines are on the website for informational purposes only, and were pulled from the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Goins confirmed that the Title IX office investigates instances of discrimination and harassment, but declared that WVU would “absolutely not” launch a Title IX investigation over a complaint about a student or faculty member using an improper pronoun.

Nonetheless, WVU’s Equity Assurance Office office also provides a guide on proper pronoun usage to help students navigate the labyrinthine landscape of gender-neutral pronouns.

[…]

The guide borrows a chart from the UW-Milwaukee LGBT Resources Center, which outlines a variety of “traditional” pronouns alongside “nonbinary” pronouns such as “(f)ae,” “e/ey,” he, “per,” she, they, “ve,” “xe,” and “ze/zie.” It warns the list is not exhaustive.

“Fae”? As in faerie --> fairies—which are those mythical creatures that don’t exist except in television, movies, and Neverland? That’s being used as acceptable pronouns for people? I don’t know about you, but there’s not enough Wild Turkey in the world for me to drink to call someone “xe.”

Now, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, they’re encouraging their students not to dismiss something as politically correct, which they aptly noted is being used to police language. Jillian Kay Melchior wrote about this at Heat Street. At the same time, they’re also bringing awareness to the impact of words, so “lame,” “man up,” and “welfare queen” are also being targeted in this effort, though the campus says they’re pro-free speech:

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The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee recently warned students not to use the phrase “politically correct,” which it said “has become a way to deflect, say that people are being too ‘sensitive’ and police language,” adding that it is “disconnected from authentic understanding of impact.”

[…]

Proscribed words or phrases on the Just Words posters include: “lame,” which “ridicules and ignores the lives of amputees”; “man up,” which “suggests there is only one way to be a man, also suggests that women can’t be courageous, strong, etc.”; “third world,” which “reinforces hierarchical attitudes toward nations around the world, establishes Westernized (industrialized) countries and cultures as the ‘standard,’ upon which to measure national well-being or economic status”; and “crazy,” which “creates a negative and demeaning perspective of people with mental health diagnoses.”

[…]

Ari Cohn, a free speech lawyer for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, says the University should tread with caution.

“While universities are free to educate students about the impact of certain words or language and encourage them to consider that while speaking to one another, such efforts must be strictly aspirational,” Cohn said. “A university that engages in a campaign like this must be careful and make clear to students that no administrative or disciplinary action will be taken against those who do not agree or comply with the universities views.”

I guess the silver lining is that the school’s administration is eschewing from supporting the political correctness agenda. The problem is that they’re still splashing in that pool, with crap analysis about the “third world.” There’s no polite way to say that your country is poor, unhealthy, and a total disaster. Sorry—there’s no kind way around that. Moreover, at times, the political correctness agenda reassigns phrases to describe such places that actually make them sound worse. Don’t say third world to describe poor countries, call them underdeveloped. That really doesn’t sound any better, folks.