‘Pronouns in Bio’ meme: what will we learn?

What’s in a meme? Well this one seems to have something to say about pronouns and biology. But your mileage may vary.

When I first saw this meme on a Discord server, I asked the person who posted it to explain it like I’m five. They hadn’t created the meme themselves, but I thought they might be able to offer some hints about how to interpret it.

I mean, I got that ‘pronouns in bio’ was a double entendre involving a pun on ‘bio’. In the text of the meme, ‘bio’ is short for ‘biography’ or ‘biographical note’ (as in, people include their pronouns in their bio) as well as ‘biology’ — or in this case, biology class. I got all that, but I was less clear about the significance of ‘What will they learn?’ Well, it turns out there’s no shortage of ‘x in the y, what will he do’ memes, and the ‘Pronouns in bio, what will they learn?’ meme is a variation on this theme.

I can see the funny side of the meme now. As the person who posted the meme pointed out, ‘the idea of pronouns learning biology is silly’.

Initially I was wondering if I was looking at an ‘anti-pronouns in bio’ meme, or perhaps a satire of the ‘anti-pronouns in bio’ crowd. Because, you know, some people don’t see the point of making a big deal about pronouns. Just to be clear, I’m not one of these people. There are also people who make a…