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proposals/3755-pronouns.md

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+# MSC3755: Pronouns
+
+There are no pronoun labels in Matrix.
+We often look to
+[MSC1769](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/1769)
+as the solution to this problem, but little progress has been made
+and even with 1769, there would still need to be a representation of
+pronouns.
+
+## Proposal
+
+Rather than creating new precedents like [MSC1769](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/1769)
+and waiting indefintley for them, this solution relies
+on extending the m.room.member state event with a new optional field:
+`m.pronouns.en`.
+The name of this field uses a [ISO 639-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639-1_codes)
+code to classify a set of pronouns for the english language.
+
+`m.pronouns.en` is a list of pronouns in order of user preference.
+
+The pronouns each have the required fields `subject`
+& `object`
+as well as the optional fields `possessive`,
+`possessive-determiner`,
+`reflexive` and `singular`.
+These are directly inspired from the site https://pronoun.is,
+which gives examples for how to use a set of pronouns.
+This set of pronouns only works with the english language
+and cannot be used to specify pronouns for other languages
+or blindly copied to do so.
+A single text field can be considered problematic,
+especially with neopronouns, as it can be hard for someone
+who is new to a set of neopronouns to derive the others from just the
+subject & object pronouns. We believe that specifying only
+the subject and object pronouns can unfortunately lead to neopronouns
+being ignored when referring to someone who has them.
+Specifying each pronoun means that clients and bots can also use
+the pronouns when referring to other users.
+
+
+The following gives an example for the pronouns `They/Them`:
+
+```
+{
+  "m.pronouns.en":[
+    {
+      "subject":"they",
+      "object":"them",
+      "possessive":"theirs",
+      "possessive-determiner":"their",
+      "reflexive":"themselves",
+      "singular":"themself"
+    }
+  ]
+}
+```
+
+### Disclaimer
+
+The author is not a linguist and knows nothing about natural language.
+
+## Potential issues
+
+Changing avatars and displayname is already a cause of concern for
+users who are in lots of rooms as it takes a long time on Synapse to
+update the member event for all the rooms.
+
+The profile directory may also [leak](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/5677)
+someone's pronouns that are used only in certain contexts and out them.
+
+This is very english centric and only specifies pronouns for english.
+
+Pronouns could be used maliciously by inserting abusive text in their place.
+
+## Alternatives
+
+* An [extensible](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/1767)
+state event combined with [MSC1769](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/1769).
+
+* An alternative involving per room profiles and spaces [MSC3189](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3189).
+
+
+## Security considerations
+
+No considertion taken so far.
+
+## Unstable prefix
+
+While this MSC is not considered stable by the specification, implementations *must* use
+`ge.applied-langua.msc3755` as a prefix to denote the unstable functionality. For example,
+the `m.pronouns.en` field would instead be `ge.applied-langua.msc3755.pronouns.en` instead.
+
+## Dependencies
+
+None known.