After coming out as a gay man in 2014, ‘genderqueer’ in 2017, and ‘non-binary’ in 2019, you can forgive people for still coming to grips with Sam Smith’s gender identity and all the etiquette that comes with it.
Featured Image VIA
Well apparently not according to Sam Smith’s fan club on Twitter, after singer Shawn Mendes committed the mortal sin of referring to Sam Smith as “he” and “him” during last week iheartradio ‘Jingle Ball’ concert:
shawn mendes really misgendered sam smith 26 times in a row on national television 😕pic.twitter.com/tJlBiBSRXw
— nick | TAYLOR DAY (@beyscardigan) December 11, 2020
Really?? Misgendering Sam Smith after they went public about pronouns they choose to be called?? Can someone tell where where TF is @ShawnMendes team before and during this recording?? They need to get fired. #JingleBellBall2020 #shawnmendes pic.twitter.com/5KNaFzUMR6
— ketua kelas (@R4ZORCANDY) December 11, 2020
i’m not even surprised at this point that shawn mendes would misgender sam smith pic.twitter.com/rB0FYylEfF
— Raúl (Ραούλ) (@liahoebility) December 11, 2020
Oh no! Somebody call the pronoun police! Oh wait no need to, because Shawn Mendes has now apologised and what’s more, Sam Smith accepted the apology, sharing it onto their own Instagram page alongside the caption “We’re all learning together”:
Well I think any reasonable person would agree it was just a mistake on Shawn Mendes’s part and he wasn’t intentionally trying to be rude or transphobic or whatever. In fact it looks like he was reading from a script? Fair play to Sam Smith for not being a big baby about it and moving on from the situation.
Personally, I never understood the point of identifying with any other pronouns aside from he/him and she/her. Just because you are a ‘he’ or ‘her’ doesn’t mean you need to adhere to those gender stereotypes, and abandoning those pronouns altogether just does more to reinforce said stereotypes. Well anyway, it doesn’t matter what I think because it looks like society has decided that when people ask to be addressed as they/them you have to respect it. I guess we’ll do our best!
For the uni student who got kicked out of class for claiming there are two genders, click HERE. Are we destined to debate gender identity until the end of time?
