"So, I will use ‘she’ and ‘her', thank you very much.”
A TV anchor and her guest got into an exchange on live TV when she refused to use the latter’s non-binary pronouns.
On TalkTV, Julia Hartley-Brewer invited journalist Shivani Dave to discuss the Cass Review.
The Cass review follows Dr Hillary Cass’ research which found that there was no evidence to support the prescription of puberty blockers to those under 18.
An NHS review found that the field of medicine that enabled children to change gender was “built on shaky foundations”.
However, things quickly took a turn after Julia introduced Shivani using she/her pronouns.
Reminding the TV anchor, Shivani said:
“Good afternoon, Julia. You know my pronouns are they/them. How are you doing?”
Despite Shivani’s clear request for non-binary pronouns, Julia refused to use them, saying she was using “correct grammar”.
The TV anchor said: “You can choose what you want to call yourself.
“But you don’t get to require me to use incorrect grammar and factually incorrect things.
“You’re not a plural. You’re one person, and you’re a female person. So, I will use ‘she’ and ‘her’, thank you very much.”
Shivani then tried to steer the conversation back to the review, saying:
“Do what you like, I guess.”
Shivani added that it is not grammatically wrong to use they/them pronouns for an individual, expressing that they want people to use the correct pronouns in case they want to refer to them “respectfully”.
This prompted Julia to ask Shivani if it is “disrespectful to use correct, factual grammar?”
She added that she is using “correct pronouns for a single woman” appearing on her show.
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Shivani reiterated they were not a single woman but a “very special, non-binary, trans person”.
The “special” part was in reference to the remark made by Julia before Shivani joined her on the show. The anchor said that people “with all these labels” like to be “special”.
Julia stated: “Okay. I’m not special. I’m just a boring, old, heterosexual, married woman.
“But you know, sorry about that. We’re not allowed to do that anymore.”
After the video circulated on social media, netizens had a variety of reactions to the matter.
Many hit out at Julia, with one expressing:
“The way this got me fuming.”
Another added: “So disgusting. It’s not that hard to use they/them pronouns for one person.
“We do it all the time if we don’t know the gender of a person.”
A third commented: “Disgusting! If a person wants to be called they/them that is their right as a person.”
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