BLOGUEUR, BLOGUEUSE OU BLOGUEU.R.SE

An article in the Toronto Star by Robert Zaretsky entitled "Masculine vs. feminine: France debates whether French is sexist," recently caught my attention. Certainly in this climate of increased vigilance against sexual predators, any cultural construct that might encourage sexual aggression or harassment must be examined.  Zaretsky states that there is an on-going argument about whether the French language itself, and I suppose all the other romantic languages, encourage male dominance and are "complicit in the persistence of the social inequalities and physical aggression faced by women."

The article cites the grammatical French rule that says "the masculine pronoun must be used whenever one refers to a mixed-gender group. This means that should a man join a group of female basketball players, les joueuses de basket transmogrify into jouers de basket. The math of French grammar, in short, dictates that the four joueuses plus one jouer equals five jouers." Clearly, that seems as sexist to me as Quebec men calling their wives or partners ma blonde.

The patriarchs of the French language at the Academie francaise, the ones who decide whether a computer or a jelly bean is masculine or feminine, contend that the French language is hard enough to learn without concerns about the grammar of gender equality. But then again, how hard would it be to write jouers/joueuses in the previous example. Methinks the fact that the Academie consists of 30 men and 4 women says it all.

Apparently in the late 1800's, feminine nouns like philosophesse and ecrivaine were common only to be purged by grammarians determined to 'masculinize' the French language. To emphasize its underlying gender bias for men, activist Eliane Viennot remarks that "it is rather curious that whereas conservatives have always accepted actrice, and not acteur for a female actor, they recoil from presidente instead of president for a female president. Is it possible that whereas men believe it is normal for a woman to show her body for a theatrical performance, it is abnormal for a woman to show her intelligence on a political stage?"

Good point.

Some who favour the use of inclusive writing suggest that the French adopt what is known as the point median system. That is, a system where les citoyens, or citizens, becomes citoyen.ne.s or jouers becomes joueu.r.se.s.

Talk about an awkward proposal.

If grammatical rules in French lead to social disadvantages or inequities for woman, then those rules must change. To borrow from both Obama and Justin Trudeau, "Come on man, it's 2017!"

Yes, French is a language based on gender. But gender differences should be celebrated, not quashed, and inclusive writing styles should be the norm in this all men are created equal world.

Oops!

 I mean in this all people are created equal world.