Time Magazine Trolled for Using 'Gender Queer' Author's Pronouns
(Editor note: we will using Maia Kobabe's preferred pronouns, which are e/em/eir.)
After a Virginia court ruled that Maia Kobabe's novel "Gender Queer" was not obscene, Time Magazine reached out to the author for comment. "Obviously, I'm relieved," e said. "I was pretty confident all along, because it didn't seem like this case was constitutional. And it didn't seem as the law was written that my book would fall under the obscene category. I don't believe that it does. I don't believe that it should. And I'm very grateful that the judge agreed."
Her novel, according to Time, "was a 2020 winner of the ALA Alex Award, given to books written for adults that have special appeal for young adults 12-18, as well as the Stonewall Book Award-Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Honor Award for books with exceptional merit relating to the LGBTQ experience."
But the book has been under attack by conservatives. Time notes that the Virginia lawsuit "was among the latest in an onslaught of challenges to Kobabe's memoir, which was the most challenged book of 2021, according to the American Library Association (ALA)."
But what is getting attention on social media isn't Kobabe's comments, but the magazine's use of Kobabe's pronouns. "In the 2019 illustrated graphic memoir, Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, explores eir process of coming out as nonbinary and asexual," reports the magazine," Time writes.
These pronoun choices have led to a social media backlash. (Note: EDGE will use air's chosen pronouns.) and the magazine is being trolled on social media.
Not surprisingly, Fox News was quick to post, editorializing in their Tweet: "Time magazine ridiculed for using 'crazy' pronouns in piece on 'Gender Queer' author"
The controversial account 'gaysagainstgroomers' posted:
".@TIME magazine just used eir/ey pronouns Unreal. Can anyone at TIME even tell us what those mean? No seriously, fill us in cuz we have absolutely no idea, because it isn't real."
With others on Twitter joining in on the trolling: