Sam Smith doesn’t mind if their gender-neutral pronouns ‘confuse’ you
"When people say it confuses them, I kind of enjoy confusing them."
By Will Stroude
Sam Smith says they don’t mind “confusing” people when it comes to their use of gender-neutral pronouns, as they continue to draw attention to the existence of non-binary identities.
Sam, who has been subjected to ignorant remarks from media figures including Good Morning Britain‘s Piers Morgan since coming out as non-binary earlier this year, opens up about their experiences as they takes part in episode three of Attitude’s LGBTQ Slang Challenge.
The multi-million-selling British solo artist, 27, says they “enjoy” challenging people to understand gender-neutral terminology as they themselves continue to feel “more comfortable” with their identity.
Tasked with explaining the meaning of ‘neo-pronouns’ – personal pronouns used by people whose gender lies outside of the male/female binary, Sam explains: “Neo-pronouns are pronouns that are not ‘him’/’he’, ‘she/’her’, ‘they/’them’.
“‘Z’, I think, stuff like that… [there are] loads of really interesting ones.”
The ‘How D You Sleep? singer goes on: “When it comes to my pronouns it’s been a wild one.
“‘Him’ and ‘he’ is becoming more and more… uncomfortable I guess, the more comfortable I’m getting with myself. But neo-pronouns are new to me, I’d love to look into them more.”
Circling back to their own identity, they add: “But ‘they’ and ‘them’, I do like that, I do enjoy that.
“And when people say it confuses them, I kind of enjoy confusing them’.”
Ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Attitude’s LGBTQ Slang Challenge by subscribing to our YouTube channel here – and be sure to catch last week’s episode with Dr Ranj Singh as the TV doc tackles terms including ‘Size Queen’, ‘Trade’ and ‘Daddy’. Oo-er…