so you want to talk about gender
hi! i’m non-binary and use they/them pronouns. for a longer, more general explanation, check out this website.
if you mess up and use the wrong pronouns, you don’t need to make a big deal about it — i assume good intentions and that you’ve just made an honest mistake. however, i will correct you, and ask that you be more mindful moving forward. relatedly, if you hear someone using the wrong pronouns, i’d greatly appreciate it if you let them know. you can do this regardless of whether or not i’m around — it means a lot when other people help out with this.
on a related note, please call me phi, and not any other name you may have known me as before.1 the things about pronouns also apply to names: i’ll correct you if you use the wrong name, and i’d appreciate your help in informing/correcting others. when trans people change their name, it’s much like when someone decides that they want to go by a nickname or change their last name after marriage — it’s just that this one is associated with gender identity.
there’s not very many trans/non-binary economists, and so by putting this on my website and being very public about my gender identity, i hope to make our corner of academia a bit more welcoming to everyone. if you’re trans/nb and you’d like to chat about being a queer economist, please reach out — i also highly recommend the csqiep mentoring conference, which i went to the summer before the job market (read my reflections here)!