Gender neutral language: Difference between revisions

French, like other romance languages, traditionally has only two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. Additionally, according to the standard language rules, masculine is always treated as the generic gender, meaning that a mixed-gender group will always be referred to in masculine (and not in feminine, unless everyone is a woman). These rules have been established over the centuries by men and male-led institutions like the ''Académie Française'' out of sexism. In 1675, talking about the grammar of the French language, abbot Dominique Bouhours stated "When both genders meet, the most noble must prevail". French inclusive language refuses such rules, and feminist and queer activists work hard to try and rid French its sexism. They have developed over the last few decades different ways to adapt the French language to be more inclusive of women and gender minorities.  

However, there is not one single way to speak inclusively in French, but rather, there are a wide variety of tools and workarounds one can use to adapt one's language. It should also be noted that the "mainstream" inclusive language used by an ever growing number or people, journals and institutions aims at being inclusive of women. These changes, albeit fairly minimal, are still very controversial with certain people. The problem of a language inclusive of nonbinary people hasn't yet reached the mainstream debate and remains mostly confined within queer and feminist circles.