Jameela Jamil faces backlash for comments on misgendering

Jameela Jamil is facing criticism on social media following an online dispute.

The British TV presenter and actress accidentally misgendered a non-binary user on Twitter, calling them a woman, during a heated exchange on the app (September 2).

The accidental misgendering isn’t what upset folk, however, but rather Jamil’s response to the situation – apologizing initially and then dishing out some advice on how trans and gender-diverse people should bear the responsibility of not being misgendered.

“I accidentally misgendered someone who was rude to me on here because I did not know they were NB. I instantly corrected myself but NOBODY reads your bios people”, the actress said addressing the gaffe.

“*PLEASE* include your pronouns in your name on here to prevent misunderstandings/offense if it’s important to you.”

Jamil, in a second tweet, then said: “OBVIOUSLY sorry for making this innocent mistake. But if we don’t do more to prevent this mistake it will likely keep happening, which is bad for everyone. Put pronouns in your names. I’ve just done that with mine. It took two seconds.”

OBVIOUSLY sorry for making this innocent mistake. But if we don’t do more to prevent this mistake it will likely keep happening, which is bad for everyone. Put pronouns in your names. I’ve just done that with mine. It took two seconds.

— Jameela Jamil 🌈 she/her (@jameelajamil) September 2, 2022

Jamil, who publicly identified herself as queer in 2020, soon began trending on Twitter as disappointed fans pointed out that, while misgendering can happen, putting the blame on trans people is “not it”.

Many were quick to point out that cisgender people should not be telling trans people how to act if they simply want to be addressed correctly:

“Dear trans people: Jameela Jamil has issued a decree on how not to be misgendered. Let us all now obey our cisgender ally overlord”, said one user.

Dear trans people: Jameela Jamil has issued a decree on how not to be misgendered. Let us all now obey our cisgender ally overlord.

— annoying poof (@itsjacksonbbz) September 2, 2022

While another said, “Don’t blame the person you misgendered for your error, and then encourage people to make their profile names less accessible.”

If you’re not sure, either check and/or use gender neutral pronouns like they/them.

Don’t blame the person you misgendered for your error, and then encourage people to make their profile names less accessible.

— Felix Bi+ Pride Fern (@Felix_F_Fern) September 2, 2022

The backlash continued to be a hot topic on Twitter for some time after, with many users pointing out the same thing: If you accidentally misgender someone, just say sorry and move on, don’t tell them that it is, essentially, “their fault”.

While others took a more severe line with the actress, accusing her of being a TERF – the term for a ‘trans-exclusionary radical feminist’ – and many self-proclaimed TERFs on the app seemed pretty delighted with the result, tweeting things like “I love seeing them [queer people] turn on each other”.

Eye roll. 

See below for more tweets on what went down.

Read: 9 simple ways to be a good ally to non-binary people.