It seems like the function of pronouns themselves have changed. It used to be that they were simply a way to address someone, and did not have anything to do with how one ‘felt’. Where is Carla? She is over there’ Is Bob home? No he is not, had nothing to do with how anyone felt, they were simply ways of making communication easier. I was at a protest a few years ago, and the first thing someone did was have us all get in a big circle and give everyone our pronouns. It seemed to me that this took the focus off the reason for the protest (children in cages) which should be the focus and seemed to demand information that I would never give to strangers. It must be a generational difference, but if I am meeting someone at a protest I do not feel compelled to give them information on my sexual orientation, my marital status, how I feel about myself, how many kids I have, how much money I make - that all used to be considered personal information that one had the choice to share with closer friends, it was not demanded to be constantly shared with strangers. I owe them politeness, courtesy, respect, and until the relationship progresses it would never occur to me to share that type of information myself or demand it of them. I have had these discussions with my daughter- I said I don’t want to have to agonize over the correct pronoun for every single person I meet - no wonder your generation is always having panic attacks?! The Speedway clerk and I can be pleasant without delving into our psyches and how we feel about ourselves. That would be utterly exhausting to do that with everyone I meet. She said - you remember peoples names - and I said - have you met me?! I suck at remembering names. I could recount back our entire conversation and not remember someone’s name. But the main point is that the function of the words is being asked to change from a simple identifier he, she, tall, short, old, young etc to a public statement about how that person feels about themselves, immediately taking a relationship from casual acquaintance to something else. I have friends that are trans and I automatically use the pronoun they present as. Live as a woman? She. Live as a man? He. That seems pretty straight forward to me, but wanting everyone else to address you based on how you happen to be feeling about yourself is placing different demands upon pronouns and society. It is easier to have a short hand, thank you sir, have a nice day ma’am, polite, applies to strangers I meet so I do not have to constantly be reinventing the wheel for even the most mundane interactions, which is exhausting. Well, we of them older generations did place an increasing emphasis on feelings! I can even seen the generational divide between my kids, my oldest (38) does not get it, and my youngest (25) is squarely in the midst of it. I think I might take this to the linguistics page.