Inclusive Ways To Say "Hey Guys"

If you're not addressing a group of people who identify as men, you probably didn't mean to exclude women, non-binary folks, and others who do not feel comfortable with "guys". Perhaps consider using good alternatives like "Y’all", "folks", and "everyone" instead in the future!

The greeting "Hey Guys" assumes the default gender is men. It says to women, trans and non-binary people that they are secondary and not important enough to be included in a greeting. It perpetuates the patriarchy and is also transphobic. Imagine saying “Hey Guys” to a group that included a trans woman; that would be a micro-aggression. This begs the question, why does gender need to be a part of a greeting in the first place?

So much of our language centers on gender, which is assumed to be cisgender. Cisgender is when your gender identity matches what was assigned at birth by doctors. Transgender is when you gender does not match what was assigned at birth. Often we use language unconsciously, like muscle memory. It can be difficult to change phrasing that is instinctual. It's not your fault if you didn't know, but consider this your education on the subject and a challenge to do better going forward. We should all be intentional about our language, because we do not want to cause harm to others.

Ways to greet a group of people

• Hey y’all / you all

  People not from the south-eastern states have my full permission to get over their issue with this. This is the best gender inclusive greeting that rolls off the tongue. Our language should evolve, and yankees saying y’all should be normalized.

• Hello there

  I love this one because of the Star Wars reference (we are staff for a cat named General Grievous)

  

• Hey folks
• Hey people / persons
• Hey humans
• Hey everybody
• Hey somebodies
• Hey crew / squad / team

A few I use among friends

• Hey friends
• Hey fam
• Hey mates
• Companions! (This is my love of fantasy and D&D coming out)
• Hello fellow evolved primates
• Hey peeps
• Epic humans
• Beautiful people
• Gentlethems and Theydies

One more thing: replace other gendered phrasing

Here is a collection of gender neutral language.

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