‘It’s not her, it’s hen’–situated classroom use of the Swedish gender-neutral pronoun hen

Abstract

The Swedish gender-neutral pronoun (GNP) hen has been in popular use since its (re)introduction to the public in 2012. Earlier research, analysing newspapers, academic papers and blogs, shows two uses of hen: when gender is unknown and when gender is irrelevant. However, there is a lack of studies of verbal, situated, uses of hen. In this article, we analyse recordings of year-eight students using hen when discussing a Nemi comic. Drawing on discursive psychology, we explore how students negotiate the gender of two unknown characters, and co-construct hen as the proper pronoun use. Adding to previous research, the analysis shows how students make both gendering as well as not gendering into accountable, repairable actions, and how they verbally use hen as a norm-critical other-repair, specifically as an action promoting GNP use. Thus, this exploratory case study contributes knowledge on the situated use of hen, something hitherto unexplored. These results are in turn important to research on gender-neutral pronouns, and our knowledge on their situated use, as well as norm-critical work in schools.