Springfield College Tells Students To Avoid Terms Like ‘Mother’, ‘Father’, ‘Son’, and ‘Daughter’

Springfield College in Massachusetts is telling students not to use words like "mother" and "father" in order to be more inclusive.

The college put these suggestions on its "Gender Pronouns" web landing page. It tells students that using such language supports s"gender-inclusive academic, living, and work environments."

Springfield College suggests alternative words like "parent" instead of "mother" or "father," and "child" instead of "son" or "daughter."

"Springfield College is committed to valuing and validating the gender identity and expression of members of the campus community. Gender identity refers to an individual's internal sense of gender, regardless of the sex assigned to them at birth or the sex designation on their legal documents," the "Gender Pronouns" section on the web site says.

Other phrases the school tells people to avoid include:  sister/brother, boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife, policeman, salesman, and mankind, among others.

Instead, the school recommends sibling, partner/spouse/significant other, police officer, salesperson/sales associate, and people/human beings/humanity.

The same web page tells students it is a privilege to not have to worry about their preferred pronouns.

"It is a privilege to not have to worry about which pronoun someone is going to use for you based on how they perceive your gender," the page said. "If you have this privilege, yet fail to respect someone else's gender identity, it is disrespectful and hurtful."

However, the web site tells people to not use the term "preferred pronouns." Instead, the school wants students to say "personal pronouns."

Springfield discourages using the term "preferred pronouns" over "personal pronouns," since "the pronouns someone uses are not a preference." If a student does not know another individual's personal pronouns, then he should "try to use 'they/them' pronouns," the school advises.

"Do say 'the pronouns someone uses' or 'their personal pronouns,' rather than 'their preferred pronouns,' because the pronouns someone uses are not a preference," the site said.

Additionally, the school tells students to apologize if they accidentally call someone by pronouns other than their preferred pronouns.