Gender neutral language in French: Difference between revisions

Gender neutral language in French (edit)

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 Today, many people refer to the contemporary introduction of feminine designations as [https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/23983/banque-de-depannage-linguistique/la-redaction-et-la-communication/feminisation-et-redaction-epicene/synthese-sur-la-feminisation-lexicale-et-la-redaction-epicene ''féminisation''] ('feminization'), believing that these occupational titles are newly coined terms. However, this is not the case, as they are being revived from an earlier iteration of the French language, making ''reféminisation''<ref name=":0">Divergenres (2021): ''Guide de grammaire neutre et inclusive''. Québec. Online at: https://divergenres.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/guide-grammaireinclusive-final.pdf (retrieved 12.12.2023).</ref> ('refeminization') a more accurate term.
-Refeminization contributes to degendering French, as studies in various languages have demonstrated that [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generisches_Maskulinum generic masculine], despite being considered gender-neutral by French prescriptive grammar ("Selon Le Bon Usage de Maurice Grevisse, l'adjectif se met donc au 'genre indifférencié, c'est-à-dire au masculin'."),<ref name=":3">Alchimy (2017): ''« Le masculin l’emporte sur le féminin » : Bien plus qu’une règle de grammaire''. In: ''Usbek&Rica.''</ref> is not actually cognitively neutral.<ref>Tibblin, J./Van De Weijer, J./Granfeldt, J./Gygax, P. (2023): There are more women in ''joggeur·euses'' than in ''joggeurs'' : On the effects of gender-fair forms on perceived gender ratios in French role nouns. In: ''J. Fr. Lang. Stud.'' ''33'', 28–51. 10.1017/S0959269522000217.</ref><ref>Heise, E. (2003): Auch einfühlsame Studenten sind Männer: Das generische Maskulinum und die mentale Repräsentation von Personen [Even empathic students are men: The generic masculine and the mental representation of persons]. In: ''Verhaltenstherapie & Psychosoziale Praxis 35''(2), 285–291.</ref> By incorporating the feminine form of a word, speakers acknowledge the presence of individuals of more genders than just one,<ref>Schütze, Christin (2020): ''Comprehension of Gender-neutral forms and the pseudo-generic masculine in German: a visual world eye-tracking study – ‘It goes without saying’ that everyone is included?''. Master thesis. University of Potsdam. Available at: https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/48415/file/schuetze_diss.pdf (accessed 2 March 2026).</ref> and the interchangeability of the masculine versus feminine terms as a result of the growing similarity in their [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_(Sprachwissenschaft) distributions] contribute to decoupling [[wikipedia:Sex|biological sex]], [https://eige.europa.eu/publications-resources/thesaurus/terms/1335 gender position] or [[wikipedia:Gender_identity|gender identity]] (cf. [[wikipedia:Sex_assignment|sex assignment]]) from the specific contexts they tend to be associated with.
+Refeminization contributes to degendering French, as studies in various languages have demonstrated that [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generisches_Maskulinum generic masculine], despite being considered gender-neutral by French prescriptive grammar ("Selon Le Bon Usage de Maurice Grevisse, l'adjectif se met donc au 'genre indifférencié, c'est-à-dire au masculin'."),<ref name=":3">Alchimy (2017): ''« Le masculin l’emporte sur le féminin » : Bien plus qu’une règle de grammaire''. In: ''Usbek&Rica.''</ref> is not actually cognitively neutral.<ref>Tibblin, J./Van De Weijer, J./Granfeldt, J./Gygax, P. (2023): There are more women in ''joggeur·euses'' than in ''joggeurs'' : On the effects of gender-fair forms on perceived gender ratios in French role nouns. In: ''J. Fr. Lang. Stud.'' ''33'', 28–51. 10.1017/S0959269522000217.</ref><ref>Heise, E. (2003): Auch einfühlsame Studenten sind Männer: Das generische Maskulinum und die mentale Repräsentation von Personen [Even empathic students are men: The generic masculine and the mental representation of persons]. In: ''Verhaltenstherapie & Psychosoziale Praxis 35''(2), 285–291.</ref> By incorporating the feminine form of a word, speakers acknowledge the presence of individuals of more genders than just one,<ref>Schütze, Christin (2020): ''Comprehension of Gender-neutral forms and the pseudo-generic masculine in German: a visual world eye-tracking study – ‘It goes without saying’ that everyone is included?''. Master thesis. University of Potsdam. Available at: https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/48415/file/schuetze_diss.pdf (accessed 2 March 2026).</ref> and the interchangeability of the masculine versus feminine terms as a result of the growing similarity in their [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_(Sprachwissenschaft) distributions] contribute to decoupling [[wikipedia:Sex|biological sex]], [https://eige.europa.eu/publications-resources/thesaurus/terms/1335 social gender/gender position] or [[wikipedia:Gender_identity|gender identity]] (cf. [[wikipedia:Sex_assignment|sex assignment]]) from the specific contexts they tend to be associated with.
 {| class="wikitable"