To continue the conversation started by @sujato a couple of months ago, we are beginning to see the importance of establishing features that allow for gender non-conforming people to feel safe on our forum.
One of the initial ideas that I had in entering this conversation, is to provide the option for people to list their preferred gender pronouns in their profile so that other people can know how they should refer to them. This is a very simple way to create a safe space by not relying on assumptions of gender.
I would also like to encourage other people to share ideas of inclusivity that they think would be beneficial. Thank you!
It might help to provide a definition of âsafe spaceâ as you understand it. In my experience, this has meant different things to different people. It will just be hard to come up with some ideas without knowing exactly how you mean it.
I was just thinking, and a bit off topic since this is in the âsupportâ category.
But if there were specific sections of your forum that were concerning in terms of content. You could always add a general âTrigger Warningâ as a thread template. This way anyone making a thread will automatically have that added at the top of their thread.
My definition of âsafe spaceâ is an environment that is conscious of gender binaries and the ways in which they are harmful to those who identify outside of them; in essence, being considerate and not making assumptions.
In addition to the custom user field, it might be good to have a public forum policy to avoid the use of unnecessary gendered pronouns as site wide guidance.
For example, I find that when I say âhimâ or âherâ it is almost always possible to avoid that by specifying the personâs name (their preferred name of course, as it exists on their user profile), and it has a side benefit of making the discussion clearer and more precise.
