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Everything in it?
In the past, the generic masculine should include people of any gender (symbolic image)
Photo: Henrik Sorensen / Getty Images
The generic masculine has often had its day.
Even the Duden has put an end to it - and introduced new creations such as “Gästin”.
German-speaking news agencies now also want to adapt their language: This emerges from a statement published by the agencies AFP, APA, dpa, epd, Keystone-sda, KNA, Reuters and SID.
The aim is to »write and speak more sensitively to discrimination«, it says there.
The so-called generic masculine should be »gradually pushed back«.
This refers to the designation of persons that are grammatically masculine, but which have so far been able to refer to people of any biological gender (example: "the tenant").
However: "Whether the news agencies will be able to do without it in a few years' time depends on the further development of the language."
The news agencies want to do without gender asterisks »until further notice«. It is still unclear "whether and which of the special characters (gender asterisk, underscore, colon, etc.), which are also supposed to represent non-binary gender identities, will become established in general usage." A majority of media customers do not use special characters either. So far, these special characters correspond to "neither the official rules of German spelling nor the general understanding of language or general language practice".
Instead, the agencies want to use other options to avoid discriminatory language.
As examples, they cite double forms such as »schoolchildren« or gender-neutral plural forms (»fire fighters«, »skilled workers«).
In other cases they suggest changing the sentence structure: Instead of: "Smokers have a shorter life expectancy" it then says: "Those who smoke have a shorter life expectancy".
The news agencies spoke of a "process lasting several years".
According to this, they want to "observe the development of the language together over the next few years and regularly reassess them in close cooperation with their media customers."
ime / dpa