Not everyone feels like it's necessary to specify their gender on social media, but the practice has practically become a norm amongst young adults (especially Generation Z).
Instagram has decided to make pronouns an integrated part of its profiles, giving some users a few more characters for their bios.
Inform Instagram Users of Your Pronouns
Instagram has added a new field to its user profiles that lets people know about how they should address you. In some countries, the photo-sharing app now lets you enter up to four pronouns, which will display next to your account name after you save changes.
You can also choose to show your pronouns publicly or to only your followers. According to The Verge, if you're under 18, this setting is turned on by default.
Add pronouns to your profile ✨
— Instagram (@instagram) May 11, 2021
The new field is available in a few countries, with plans for more. pic.twitter.com/02HNSqc04R
Should your pronoun of choice not appear on Instagram's list (at the moment, it seems to only have he/him, she/her, and they/them), you can send a request form to the Instagram Help Center for it to be added.
You might be thinking: "Instagram should've given us to freedom to type in whatever we want, that sounds like such a hassle." We suspect that this was the platform's way of ensuring that no one would type joke pronouns into the field.
Instagram's parent company, Facebook, brought more pronoun options to its main platform back in 2014.
You'd assume that Instagram would've quickly followed suit (sometimes both platforms add the same feature at the same time, like the anti-Apple privacy policy notices), but only now is it building on its inclusivity.
Will More Apps and Websites Start Adding More Identity Options?
According to the latest update from Gallup, the number of US adults identifying as LGBT+ is up from 4.5 percent since 2017. Knowing that, perhaps we should expect more apps and websites to cater to more identities, too.
In late March, Reddit added a gender identity question to its signup process, though your selection isn't displayed on your profile. It's also not a mandatory field, but if you do pick something, that info will only be used by the algorithm to recommend you content.
Dating apps typically add features for users with queer and nonbinary identities long before social media platforms, since that's info that you'd (probably) want to know about a potential partner.
OkCupid added a good number of pronoun options in 2018, but Feeld is easily the most inclusive app of the bunch— there are over 40 gender identities and sexualities that you can choose from.
