[by Hubert Heckmann]
In circular dated May 5, 2021 and published in the Official Bulletin of May 6, 2021, the Minister of National Education rejects the use of inclusive writing in schools:
"It is appropriate to prohibit the use of so-called "inclusive" writing, which uses in particular the midpoint to simultaneously show the feminine and masculine forms of a word used in the masculine when it is used in a generic sense."
However, the vagueness in the definition of what inclusive writing is, as well as a lack of knowledge of the French language itself, leads the circular to recommend in the name of inclusivism uses that fall within the scope of inclusive writing, even if it is without a midpoint:
"It is also requested to use formulations such as "the candidate or the candidate" so as not to mark a gender preference, or to use formulas such as "the inspectors and the inspectoresses of national education" to recall the place of women in all functions."
"Marquer uneférence de genre" is an expression that has absolutely no meaning in French, even if we take the detour via the English translation to return to the French "sex". Only ten years ago, would the readers of such a circular have been able to understand that it is about something other than sexual preference for candidates or for inspectors? In her studies on the dissemination of the terms "gender" and "intersectionality" by international organizations (UN bodies and European institutions), Rachele Raus points out that gender was still rendered by sexe in official translations until the very end of the 2000s[1]. She indicates that the adoption of the word gender to translate " gender » coincides with the promotion of the notion of “intersectionality” by international organizations, because gender et intersectionality system font[2].
The teaching of the French language is the victim of an unfortunate homonymy between the word gender used in grammar to designate a category of words, and the new word gender which translates badly the gender English, and which is the fig leaf for an ideology aimed at abolishing the difference between the sexes – starting with abolishing the word sexe.
The minister endorses the deliberate confusion between grammatical gender and biological sex, which is the ideological driving force behind the entire inclusivist framework. This is totally contrary to the achievements of linguistics. No power, even arbitrary, will be able to do anything against the arbitrariness of language. The confusion of the linguistic notion of grammatical gender with sexual organs is a form of delirium. How can an official circular from the Ministry of National Education succumb to this, precisely at the moment of taking a stand against inclusive writing? Should we recognize the art of together?
How does saying "the inspectors of national education" recall "the place of women in all functions"? The relationship to language in this circular is akin to magical thinking. And if we have to talk about victims of school bullying, will the feminine word "victims" prevent us from thinking that male students are also the object of harassment? What should we say?
This language tic ("les inspecteurs-et-les-inspectrices") is indeed a mark of ideological conformity, now required of teachers, in contempt of the use of the French language. It will be easily criticized by the inclusivists who will have no trouble pointing out that women appear in these formulas as the eternal seconds... and there will be nothing to answer them, because the ministry effectively asks us "not to show any gender preference"!
Learning the French language is subordinate to ideological imperatives:
"the choice of examples or statements in teaching situations must respect equality between girls and boys, both through the feminization of terms and through the fight against stereotypical representations."
All the little French people and all the little French girls are made aware from kindergarten onwards of the dangers of the "stereotypes" conveyed by our culture. We would like to be sure that they and they will all know and all reading, writing and arithmetic, because this is still the best way to reduce inequalities.
