Is the French Language Sexist, and if So, So What? By Richard Miller (London)

The same rules do not appear in the English language, but in French and some other languages, all nouns are either masculine and feminine. The written endings of nouns, adjectives and verbs reflect the gender of the object or person who is speaking. When a noun involves both men and women, the default spelling is in the masculine in accordance with the long-taught rule: “Masculine always wins.” This has greatly upset French feminists, and for years they have campaigned for language reform, as especially for the French, language is very much part of the social construction of reality. And now we have the non-binary brigade and transgenders, rejecting the basic categories, or so they think.

Recently someone whom we would be surprised to take the side of gendered language, Emmanuel Macron, pleaded for France not to “give in to the spirit of the times,” and go down the gender-neutral language road. “In French, the masculine is neutral. We don’t need to add points in the middle of words or hyphens to make it readable,” he said at the opening of a new language centre in the town of Villers-Cotterêts.

The issue of the banning of gender-neutral language is presently under debate by the French Senate, so we will soon see if tradition beats trendy wokeism. Long live French!

https://dailysceptic.org/2023/10/31/masculine-always-wins-macron-rebuffs-gender-inclusive-language-reforms/

“Emmanuel Macron has urged France not to “give in to the spirit of the times” and reject gender-inclusive writing in order to safeguard the French language. The Telegraph has more.

“In French, the masculine is neutral. We don’t need to add points in the middle of words or hyphens to make it readable,” said the French President at the opening of a new language centre in the town of Villers-Cotterêts, about 50 miles northeast of Paris, on Monday.

The French Senate will discuss banning gender-inclusive writing on Monday evening, in order to “protect” the French language. This move reopens a long-standing debate that has divided the country between Right-leaning language purists versus the Left and feminists.

Under the proposal tabled by a Republican senator, gender-inclusive writing would be banned in administrative documents including job contracts, job adverts, internal company regulations and all legal documents.

The bill would also ban inclusive writing in the national education code, doubling down on an existing 2021 directive. Documents written in gender-neutral language would be considered null and void.

In French, all nouns are either masculine and feminine and the written endings of nouns, adjectives and verbs must reflect the gender of the object or person in question. But when a noun involves both men and women, the default spelling is in the masculine in accordance with the long-taught rule: “Masculine always wins.”

French culture vs le wokeism. Who will come out on top?