On Tuesday, May 11, Instagram revealed its newest feature will allow users to display their gender pronouns on their account instead of manually typing them into their bio.
“Add pronouns to your profile,” the social media platform said in their announcement via Twitter. “The new field is available in a few countries, with plans for more.” Users have the ability to edit or remove pronouns at any time and also can fill out a form to request a pronoun to be added if it’s not available. The company says users are allowed to add up to four pronouns to their profile and have the option to display them publicly or only to their followers. However, this option is not offered to users under the age of 18, whose pronouns are automatically private.
“I think it’s really cool that Instagram is now having a completely different section where you can put your pronouns. I think it’s a step in the right way towards inclusion,” Noella Williams tells GRAZIA. Williams, whose pronouns are she/they, continues, “It’s not, of course, the best thing that Instagram could do as it has had a history of silencing members of the LGBTQ+ community, but it’s a step in the right direction.” Instagram has been scrutinized in the past for shadow banning by censoring identity hashtags — such as #bi, #gay, and #lesbian — and flagging advertisements featuring queer people of color as a violation of the platform’s terms of service.
“This feature added to Instagram of having pronouns is out of this world. I feel like our community is finally being seen, finally being heard and finally being recognized,” Chazriq Clarke, whose pronouns are he/him/his, told GRAZIA. Clarke who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community believes the pronoun display is a formal recognition of pronouns and identity, even though denoting said pronouns in account bios has been popularized over the last few years. “I’m excited to see what other social media platforms are going to do,” Clarke continues, nodding to the precedent this stride toward inclusion sets for all social networking apps.
