Books are being banned for using pronouns that Virginia Woolf used in 1928, argues Surrey author

Published by Oxford University Press, Queer Forms and Pronouns: Gender Nonconformity in Anglophone Literature traces the use of the singular 'they' and other nonconformity pronouns through English-language fiction, poetry and memoir, and finds them written into the canon long before today's political lines were drawn. 

The book opens with a discovery that its author, Dr Lena Mattheis, made while rereading Virginia Woolf's Orlando – a text that dates back to 1928. In the middle of a familiar paragraph, the gender-transforming protagonist is described with the singular 'they' pronoun.  Diving into the rich history of singular ‘they’, Dr Mattheis’ research highlights that this pronoun is in fact older than singular ‘you’ and has been used in general language as well as in poetry since at least the 14^th century. 

This finding shapes the book's central argument – that gender-nonconformity (GNC) pronouns – singular 'they', neopronouns, mixed pronouns – are not grammatical novelties. They are a long-established feature of creative writing in English, with their own logic, and they have been doing significant literary work for generations. Gender-nonconformity pronouns are not just practical, they are beautiful. 

The book arrives at a moment of intense and, in some countries, legally enforced hostility towards inclusive language. In the United States, Florida legislation explicitly prohibits teachers from sharing or asking about pronouns. The French and Argentinian governments have moved to restrict inclusive language in public institutions. In Bavaria, it has been made unlawful for state authorities, including schools, to use gender-inclusive language at all. Dr Mattheis argues that these measures rest on a deep-seated misunderstanding – that GNC language is new, unnatural and grammatically unsound – and that literary history offers a powerful counter-record. 

Queer Forms and Pronouns: Gender Nonconformity in Anglophone Literature is available from 20 March 2026, at all good bookstores. 

Among the books the study examines is Maia Kobabe's graphic memoir Gender Queer, which was the most frequently banned book in the United States in both 2021 and 2022. Kobabe originally wrote it as a personal letter to their own family, to explain their gender identity and their wish to use the Spivak pronouns 'e/em/eir'. It is, Mattheis argues, precisely the accessibility of the graphic form – its ability to make a private pronoun journey legible to readers unfamiliar with trans and nonbinary experience – that made the book such a target. Panels were taken out of context and circulated on social media as evidence of harm. 

The book also examines the personal dimension of pronoun use that is rarely acknowledged in public debate – the difficulty, for trans and nonbinary people themselves, of finding, adopting and consistently using new pronouns. Characters in the texts Mattheis analyses mispronoun themselves, try on pronouns only to find they do not quite fit, and navigate the gap between how they want to be described and how others see them. This, Mattheis argues, is part of what makes GNC literature so valuable – it models not a world in which inclusive language is effortless, but one in which the effort is shared and the stakes are real. 

Queer Forms and Pronouns is published by Oxford University Press and is accompanied by a podcast series, available free on the Queer Lit podcast feed, featuring conversations with scholars Susan Stryker, Laura Paterson, Jas Morgan, Sue Lanser, Briona Simone Jones and Teagan Bradway. 

###