Thoughts on the gendering of Chinese pronouns
佢 PRONOUN MY FUCKING BELOVED
[ID: A 6-panel, black and white comic. The panels are as follows:
1. The text “There is only one pronoun in Cantonese” next to that pronoun, 佢, written in grid paper.
2. White text against black. It reads, “Not neutral as in a statement. Neutral as in ‘never considered’“
3. A child on the ground, laying on their stomach with a pen in hand, in front of the paper with 佢 on it. Text next to them reads, “I think that’s part of why I didn’t consider gender much as a kid”
4. Someone wearing a qipao and two braids, drawn from the neck down. They put a hand up in a “stop” gesture at someone else’s hand, which reaches towards them from offscreen. Text reads, “But like the Mandarin 他 / the white people came / split 女 from 人”
5. Text reading “Split into 他 她” The two pronouns are written so that they form the labels of bathroom doors.
6. A person gestures forward. Blood drips from their mouth and the center of their palm. Text reads, “I gender myself in a tongue that is not my own / and taste the bitterness of colonization”
/end ID]