Janelle Monáe hasn’t actually asked people to use they/them pronouns for her, so the article is correct!
“Recently, she tweeted #IAmNonBinary, and, as you might expect, people wondered what she meant.
Many publications immediately began using they/them pronouns for the star, while some carefully wrote pieces about Monae coming out that omitted using pronouns for the singer altogether.
And at least one publication used the moment to write a guide to using they/them pronouns.
As any non-binary person could tell you, all of these stories share one problematic assumption: that all non-binary people use they/them pronouns.
Monáe was eventually asked about her pronouns, with the interviewer pointing out that her Wikipedia page was amended to incorporate they/them pronouns following her “non-binary” tweet.
“That [Wikipedia edit] was not me,” she said. “I think people can call me whatever it is they want to call me. I know who I am. I know my journey. And I don’t have to declare anything.
When I retweeted I’m nonbinary, it was “I’m not binary day,” and so I did a hashtag to show support to the community.
I retweeted the Steven Universe meme ‘Are you a boy or a girl? I’m an experience’ because it resonated with me, especially as someone who has pushed boundaries of gender since the beginning of my career.
You know, in the same way when Prince said, “I’m not a woman/ I’m not a man/ I’m something that you’ll never understand” in “I Would Die 4 U” — that resonated with me. I feel my feminine energy, my masculine energy, and energy I can’t even explain.”
I’m exploring, you know? I’m so open to what the universe is teaching me, and teaching all of us about gender. I definitely don’t live my life in a binary way.
I’ve always pushed, as you can see from the way that I dress to the things that I’ve said since the beginning of my career. I have fought against gender norms, and what it means to be a woman and what it means to be a man. I’m a fucking android.
But I will say this: I’m so happy that people are learning more about what it means to be gender non-conforming, and what it means to be non-binary.”
There are non-binary people who don’t use they/them pronouns, so someone coming out as non-binary doesn’t necessarily mean that the person has decided to change his or her pronouns to they/them.
But it also isn’t clear, in this case, that Janelle actually personally identifies as non-binary, despite the tweet; it seems more like she identifies as gender non-conforming and is supporting the non-binary community but she is not ready to and/or interested in claiming the non-binary gender identity label herself for the time being.
