Makena Njeri doesn’t want to be referred as a ‘she’ even though typically she is a woman, her sexuality is pushing her to invent new lexicon.
‘She’ is a pronoun used to refer to a woman, girl, or females generally. However, for Makena Njeri ‘she’ can’t be used to refer to her.
Makena wants to be referred as ‘They/Them’. She called on media to use the pronouns she wants when referring to her.
“In other news please Kenyan blogs. Get my pronouns right (They/Them). Thank you let’s keep learning together,” wrote Makena Njeri.
But why does she want to be referred as ‘they/them’ instead of ‘she’? Well, Makena Njeri is a masculine lesbian, she plays the role of a “man” in her lesbian relationships, she always dresses like men and also gets men’s haircut.
For starters, some gay men are somewhat feminine and lesbians somewhat masculine, but there is variation within each group.
Not all lesbian/gay relationships have partners playing “men” and “women” roles. There are some lesbian couples where both women are on the masculine side or feminine side – this also applies to gay relationship.
For Makena Njeri, she is a masculine lesbian – meaning that she plays the role of a “man” while her partner(s) are feminine.
While she is not a man and also she doesn’t want to identify as a woman, Makena Njeri prefers to be referred as ‘they/them’.
Homosexual community has a rich lexicon of campy icons and references. They love to reject all labels and insist on making home in the gaps between.
The collective identity of homosexuals defy conventional labels, they come up with new vocabulary to describe their world which in most cases defy normal rules of the English language.
The lightning-fast evolution of homosexual terminology shows no signs of slowing. Even the term LGBT ( Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) itself has evolved fast – it used to be LGBT, then LGBTQ now it’s LGBTQ+.
Related: Makena Njeri Recalls How She Was Chased From Church After Coming Out As A Lesbian
