“Ladies and Gentleman, please take your seats” was an innocent greeting until recently. It is now deemed as inappropriate to single out a collection of people by categorizing them with the opening line “Ladies and Gentlemen”. It is not an eggregious error but you’re in fact dividing people in classes and genders subconsciously if not intentionally. Implications of your exclusive categorizing into two genders outright throws out many other sets of recognized and unrecognized groups. Gendering a room full of people is an unworkable opening line going forward.
This wave of change comes in keeping in tone with the progress on the subject of gender neutrality. It is time we substitute old school concepts with new greetings as we embark on a journey towards new idealogies altogether.
1. City Services Making The Move
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The London Underground Staff has revised it’s dialogues from the regular “Ladies and Gentlemen” to a more inclusive “Hey Everyone!”. This new change in the format is a move to make all passengers feel welcome. The revised phrasing will be added into the pre-recorded announcements across the capital. The LGBTQ group Stonewall applauded the move by the Transport Network thanking them for a small step in the right direction. This little token of acceptance reflects the capital’s unwavering diversity.
2. Global Stars Advocating Gender Neutrality
During her concert in New York recently, international sensation Lady Gaga made a heartfelt speech about LGBTQ+ equality and how to be more accepting towards them. She urged fans to ask people their pronouns before addressing them. She said she’s been blessed to learn from her fans through the years. This subject is something she feels passionately about. Ask for someone’s pronoun so as to correctly address them. Everyone is a work in progress and the least you could do for them is respect their decision. “Ask the Right Question: Ask their Pronoun!”
3. Drag Kings/Queens
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Dont fall for physical gender representations. In a time where gender is an aspect of one’s personality that they would like to explore and play with, we as a society are in a position to offer more acceptance, more tolerance and more understanding. One’s lack of knowledge might land someone’s personal choices in prejudice. Let’s be better than that. Initially, intellectually. A change of words to offer an individual to the chance to be themselves fully isn’t a huge barter, is it?
It’s take a spirit of diversity and progression to educate ourselves and change practices one by one to fully include all individuals of the society regardless of their gender. It starts one with one small step of eliminating the term “Ladies and Gentleman.” Why use precise terms when a simple “Hello Everyone” works just as well. These little changes are made not to change how people speak, but in fact, what they think.
