• An academic report commissioned by the United States Marines urged Marines to stop calling their drill instructors “sir” and “ma’am” to avoid “misgendering” the instructors.
• “Replace gendered identifiers (e.g., ‘sir,’ ‘ma’am’) in the primary salutation or response to drill instructors with gendered neutral language such as ‘drill instructor,’ ‘senior drill instructor,’ ‘senior,’ ‘DI,’ or ‘SDI,’” the report states.
• “Employing gender-neutral identifiers eliminates the possibility of misgendering drill instructors, which can unintentionally offend or cause discord,” the report continues.

Tagged: U.S. Military