MSC4247: User Pronouns

proposals/4247-user-pronouns.md

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+# MSC4247: User Pronouns
+
+Many users of Matrix put pronouns in display names. However, that causes screen
+clutter. This proposal defines a standardized pronouns field on top of
+[MSC4133](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/4133).
+
+## Proposal
+
+Profiles may have an optional `m.pronouns` field as an
+array. These fields can be fetched through the
+[profile API endpoints](https://spec.matrix.org/unstable/client-server-api/#profiles).
+Clients should parse this and use these instead of they/them where possible. All fields
+within `m.pronouns` are optional, exluding `"language"` and `"summary"`.
+
+### Example
+
+```json
+{ 
+    "avatar_url": "…", "displayname": "…",
+    "m.pronouns": [
+        {
+            "subject": "it",
+            "object": "it", 
+            "possessive_determiner": "its", 
+            "possessive_pronoun": "its", 
+            "reflexive": "itself",
+            "language": "en",
+            "summary": "it/its"
+        },
+        {
+            "subject": "she",
+            "object": "her",
+            "possessive_determiner": "her",
+            "possessive_pronoun": "hers",
+            "reflexive": "herself",
+            "language": "en",
+            "summary": "she/her"
+        }
+    ]
+}
+```
+The example uses it/its pronouns followed by she/her pronouns, both in English.
+The array is ordered by preference, `language` should be a
+[BCP-47](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/bcp/bcp47.txt) language code, and
+clients should render the `summary` for the pronouns. Clients may offer
+pre-defined sets of common pronouns like she/her, they/them, he/him, it/its,
+etc.
+
+## Potential issues
+
+Some users may not want to publish pronouns to others, although that is out of
+scope for this MSC. Some users may also complain about "woke", although
+pronouns are a basic part of langauge.
+
+## Security issues
+
+None.
+
+## Unstable prefix
+
+Clients and servers wishing to implement this early may use
+`io.fsky.nyx.pronouns`.