Lily Gladstone on Why She Uses She/They Pronouns: A Way of ‘Decolonizing Gender for Myself’ (Exclusive)

Lily Gladstone opens up about pronoun preferences.

In an interview with PEOPLE, Killers of the Flower Moon The star, 37, explains why she feels comfortable being called both her and them.

“I remember being 9 years old and being a little disheartened to see how often a lot of my cousins ​​were born wrong because they wore long hair,” explains Gladstone, who has Blackfeet and Nez Perce heritage. She grew up on the Blackfeet reservation in Montana for the first decade of her life.

“I think that’s what happens to full-grown kids, especially Native boys who leave a community where long hair is celebrated [and then] they just tease me about it,” continues Gladstone, whose X profile also mentions the pronouns she/they. “So I remember at the time I was like everybody should be them.”

In their own words: stars on their gender identity

Lily Gladstone.

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“And in most indigenous languages, most indigenous languages, including Blackfeet, there are no gender pronouns. There is no he/she, only they,” adds Gladstone.

“It doesn’t happen that often anymore, but there have been a few times in my life when I’ve spoken to a first-time speaker of the Northern Cheyenne language [or another] The first native speaker where they’ll accidentally mislabel you while they’re talking to you,” says Gladstone. “And then they’ll be embarrassed about it, but that’s because they learned English later.”

“So Blackfeet, we don’t have gender pronouns, but our gender is implied in our name. But it’s not binary either,” says Gladstone, adding that her Blackfeet grandfather’s name meant “Iron Woman”.

“He had a name that had a female name in it. I never met my grandfather. I wouldn’t say he wasn’t gender binary, but he was given a female name because he kind of carried himself, I guess, the way women with that name do,” Gladstone continues.

“And there were a lot of women in history who were still given male names. They fulfill more of the male role in society as far as providers, warriors, things like that,” she says.

“So yes, my use of the pronoun is partly a way of decolonizing gender for me.”

Lily Gladstone.

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Gladstone adds that her use of the pronoun is her way of “accepting that when I’m in a group of ladies, I know I’m a little different. When I’m in a group of men, I don’t feel like a man. I don’t feel it [masculine] at all. I probably feel more feminine when I’m around other men.”

“In ceremony, a lot of times when you’re sitting in a circle it’s a gender thing,” Gladstone continues. “I happen to sit in circles that are very accepting of all our people. And I’ve seen people change where they sit in the circle depending on how they feel that day.”

When it comes to the gendered award categories that separate actor and actress, Gladstone, who is nominated for Best Actress at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, has nuanced feelings.

Leonardo DiCaprio with actress Lily Gladstone on November 27, 2023.

Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

“I think it’s really cool that we get to see the ‘performer’ and see everyone come together. “I feel like historically the existence of gender categories has helped prevent the erasure of female actors because I think historically people just have more respect for male performances,” says Gladstone.

“I know a lot of actresses who are very proud of the word ‘actress’ or very proud of being an actress,” Gladstone adds. “I don’t know, maybe it’s just an overly semantic thing where I’m like, if there’s no such thing as a ‘female director,’ then there shouldn’t be an actress. There is no ‘producer’, no ‘recorder’. ”

For more on Lily Gladstone, pick up the latest issue of the magazine PEOPLEOut now.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education