Skip to content
British Broadcasting Corporation
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Health
  • Culture
  • Arts
  • Travel
  • Earth
  • Audio
  • Video
  • Live
Witness History, Witness History, Sweden’s pronoun battle

Witness History

Witness History

Sweden’s pronoun battle


Up next

Witness History, Witness History, Indonesia's forest fires

Indonesia's forest fires

Witness History, Witness History, Discovering Hale Bopp

Discovering Hale Bopp

Witness History, Witness History, The nightclub that changed Ibiza

The nightclub that changed Ibiza

Witness History, Witness History, India's Partition - Part One

India's Partition - Part One

Witness History, Witness History, India's Partition - Part Two

India's Partition - Part Two

Witness History, Witness History, The last Viceroy of India

The last Viceroy of India

Witness History, Witness History, The death of Jawaharlal Nehru

The death of Jawaharlal Nehru

Witness History, Witness History, The Bard of Bengal

The Bard of Bengal

Witness History, Witness History, Bulgaria's cash crisis

Bulgaria's cash crisis

Witness History, Witness History, Hundreds die in Darayya

Hundreds die in Darayya

Witness History, Witness History, The Gay Games

The Gay Games

Witness History, Witness History, The 'Nixon Shock' and the end of the Gold Standard

The 'Nixon Shock' and the end of the Gold Standard

Witness History, Witness History, India's onion election

India's onion election

Witness History, Witness History, Marikana Massacre

Marikana Massacre

Witness History, Witness History, The 'Last Indian'

The 'Last Indian'

Witness History, Witness History, Princess Diana dances with John Travolta

Princess Diana dances with John Travolta

Witness History, Witness History, Mikhail Gorbachev: Perestroika

Mikhail Gorbachev: Perestroika

Witness History, Witness History, Mikhail Gorbachev: Release of Irina Ratushinskaya

Mikhail Gorbachev: Release of Irina Ratushinskaya

Witness History, Witness History, Doomed hero of Brazilian democracy

Doomed hero of Brazilian democracy

Witness History, Witness History, The murder that shocked Brazil

The murder that shocked Brazil

Witness History, Witness History, Building of Brasilia

Building of Brasilia

Witness History, Witness History, The Candelaria child massacre

The Candelaria child massacre

Witness History, Witness History, The car that charmed Brazil

The car that charmed Brazil

Witness History, Witness History, The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

Witness History, Witness History, Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Derby

Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Derby

Witness History, Witness History, Windsor Castle fire

Windsor Castle fire

Witness History, Witness History, When the Queen opened Buckingham Palace

When the Queen opened Buckingham Palace

Witness History, Witness History, The last days of Queen Victoria

The last days of Queen Victoria

Witness History, Witness History, World War Two child evacuees in Britain

World War Two child evacuees in Britain

Witness History, Witness History, Ancient fossils give new insight

Ancient fossils give new insight

9 August 2022

9 minutes

Available for over a year

Sweden has a long history of championing LGBTQ+ rights. But campaigners spent years battling to get the gender-neutral personal pronoun ‘hen’ included in Swedish dictionaries. The word was finally added in 2015. Maddy Savage spoke to Nasim Aghili from the "queer" art collective Ful, which rallied to get the word recognised. This is a Bespoken Media production for the BBC World Service.

(Photo: Nasim Aghili. Credit: Thomas Straub)

See more episodes

Programme website


British Broadcasting Corporation
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Health
  • Culture
  • Arts
  • Travel
  • Earth
  • Audio
  • Video
  • Live
  • Weather
  • BBC Shop
  • BritBox

The BBC is in multiple languages

Read the BBC In your own language

Oduu Afaan Oromootiin
Amharic ዜና በአማርኛ
Arabic عربي
Azeri AZƏRBAYCAN
Bangla বাংলা
Burmese မြန်မာ
Chinese 中文网
Dari دری
French AFRIQUE
Hausa HAUSA
Hindi हिन्दी
Gaelic NAIDHEACHDAN
Gujarati ગુજરાતીમાં સમાચાર
Igbo AKỤKỌ N’IGBO
Indonesian INDONESIA
Japanese 日本語
Kinyarwanda GAHUZA
Kirundi KIRUNDI
Korean 한국어
Kyrgyz Кыргыз
Marathi मराठी
Nepali नेपाली
Noticias para hispanoparlantes
Pashto پښتو
Persian فارسی
Pidgin
Polish PO POLSKU
Portuguese BRASIL
Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਖ਼ਬਰਾਂ
Russian НА РУССКОМ
Serbian NA SRPSKOM
Sinhala සිංහල
Somali SOMALI
Swahili HABARI KWA KISWAHILI
Tamil தமிழில் செய்திகள்
Telugu తెలుగు వార్తలు
Thai ข่าวภาษาไทย
Tigrinya ዜና ብትግርኛ
Turkish TÜRKÇE
Ukrainian УКРАЇНСЬКA
Urdu اردو
Uzbek O'ZBEK
Vietnamese TIẾNG VIỆT
Welsh NEWYDDION
Yoruba ÌRÒYÌN NÍ YORÙBÁ
Follow BBC on:
  • Terms of Use
  • Subscription Terms
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Contact the BBC
  • Advertise with us
  • Do not share or sell my info
  • BBC.com Help & FAQs
  • Content Index
  • Set Preferred Source

Copyright 2026 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.