It begins with the banal story of a school reprimand.
“My sports teacher said “all”, I replied “toutz” and he yelled at me
,” complains, to 20 minutes, an 11-year-old student whose fight for inclusive writing is raising the stakes. father at the niche.
Friday February 16, the daily reported in its columns this legal battle which confirms that grammar is no longer a sweet song and is now struggling in the meshes of ideological demands.
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“Classical writing excludes people who are neither “they” nor “them”. Inclusive writing includes people, so they feel better about themselves
,” the young girl argues to the newspaper.
“There are not only men and women on earth.
I've seen intersex people before, and I understand very well what it does to them if we say something they don't like.
I do this for others because I like to help.
»
These good feelings clash with the circular from Jean-Michel Blanquer which, since May 2021, has prohibited
“in the context of teaching the use of so-called inclusive writing”
.
No matter, the father is suing him.
Also read: Can we (really) ban inclusive writing?
Freedom of expression
It is freedom of expression that the father, a teacher by profession, says he wants to do justice to.
Muzzling the
“iels”
and the midpoints would be an attack on this.
“From now on, it becomes a mistake not to use the generic masculine gender in a copy.
What was only one use among others becomes the only valid agreement
,” he explains to the daily.
“The child will see the midpoint in the uses, and different spellings in the world, but the school sorts through it and decides that there is one that is a mistake.
The message I carry is that freedom of expression must be protected.
And that we must avoid the law of the Wild West, the law of the strongest.
»
Meticulously refuting what the National Education circular is based on, the teacher does not hide his
“second objective”
:
“Trying to make visible the problems of equality that come from language, so that the State can address them. really busy.
»
He cites in support a study published in the journal
American Psychologist
, which demonstrates through numerous experimental results
“the validity of the influence of language on mental representations”
.
If language transforms our imaginations and mental representations, then the generic masculine
“creates unfavorable working conditions for women and gender minorities
,” he explains.
It also deprives
“students belonging to gender minorities of the possibility of receiving language tools to think and say themselves.
»
Repairing real injustices
This linguistic dispute underlies a fundamental anthropological debate, as understood by Bruno Retailleau and Laurence Rossignol, opposing the text of Senator Pascal Gruny aimed at
"protecting the French language from the excesses of so-called inclusive writing"
on 30 last October.
“Behind inclusive writing, there is much more than just syntax and vocabulary.
Much, much more
,” declared Bruno Retailleau in the Senate.
A militant approach to language issues recognized by the socialist Laurence Rossignol.
“It’s you who are activists and don’t recognize it
,” she then said.
“I find it hard to believe that all parliamentarians (...) suddenly you are passionate about the purity of the French language.
Your subject is not inclusive writing, it is the fear you have of the indifferentiation of the sexes.
The argument requires accepting as indisputable that grammar can have complete control over reality, and therefore repair its injustices.
However, it is not in light of this that the former Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer saw fit to proscribe inclusive writing from the school sphere.
But quite simply for the sake of readability.
He then castigated
“the complexity and instability”
of inclusive writing which risked posing
“obstacles to the acquisition of language and reading”
and
“hindering the efforts of students with learning disabilities.” learning "
.
The midpoint and neologisms were particularly targeted.
This circular was only a transposition to the educational sphere of an older one from November 21, 2017 from Édouard Philippe, then Prime Minister, banning
“the writing highlighting the existence of a feminine form”
.
The government tone has since become even tougher.
Emmanuel Macron himself chose to masterfully tackle the midpoint, during the inauguration of the international city of Villers-Cotterêts on October 30, by declaring that
“in this language, the masculine makes the neuter.
There is no need to add periods in the middle of words or hyphens.”
But inclusive forms are rampant in certain universities and associations.
The lady from Quai Conti seems considered too old to be listened to by everyone, she who from the beginning considered inclusive writing a
“mortal peril”
for the language.
Didn't Annie Ernaux very recently call the Immortals
"old cheesy people"
, particularly because they continue to denounce the gendered pronouns
"iel"
and
"iels"
?
It is now justice that will decide.