Inclusive writing continues to cause a stir on college campuses. The decision of a sociology journal from the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) to impose the feminization of texts revives the debate on this type of writing aimed at combating inequalities based on gender. A laudable objective, but which disfigures the French language, according to its detractors.
The student magazine Sociological sessions now requires that its authors use “inclusive writing according to the midpoint method explained in the inclusive writing guide of FemaleStudiesa student, feminist and multidisciplinary journal”.
This writing technique gives rise to formulations such as nice, purple, sweet, red, wonderful, mysterious, author, or even teacher. The use of pronouns such as iel, celleux or ceuzes is also recommended.
The goal is to eliminate any reference to gender to “allow the inclusion of the feminine, but also of non-binary, queer, agender people, questioning their gender identity or others”, indicates the editorial guide.
Inclusive writing also seeks to eliminate the rule that the “masculine prevails over the feminine”, decreed 400 years ago by the French Academy. This institution, which guarantees orthodoxy, fiercely opposes inclusive writing, which would represent a “mortal danger” for the French language. The French Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, has also banned inclusive writing in the school context.
An irreversible movement
The editorial team of Sociological sessions did not respond to our interview requests. Professor Lori Saint-Martin, from the Department of Literary Studies at UQAM, believes, however, that the movement towards “more just and more inclusive” writing seems irreversible.
“The language is alive. It evolves in all sorts of ways. Some are happy, some may not be, but we won’t stop it from changing, that’s for sure,” says the professor and writer, who is interested in the phenomenon of inclusive writing.
Use will show which inclusive formulas will prevail over time, she believes. She says she has seen a steady increase over the past five years in the number of her students, especially at the master’s and doctoral level, who use some form of inclusive writing. “My policy is never to impose that, but to defend those who want to do it,” she explains. The first time I read a chapter [rédigé de façon inclusive], I was a little surprised, but you get used to it very quickly, in general, if you don’t have a closed mind. »
A “destabilized” identity
Caroline Sarah St-Laurent, doctoral student in political sociology at UQAM, considers herself to be open-minded, but has no desire at all to submit a manuscript to the journal Sociological sessions. She is outraged by the demand for inclusive writing, which she sees as jargon threatening the foundations of French culture, including in Quebec. “Language is changing, I agree. But here, we are at a stage where French is destabilized, where our identity is destabilized. It can crack for good, ”says the student.
For her, inclusive writing is a symptom of the “deconstruction” of society, where the very idea of studying Quebec has become unfashionable. “Talking about Quebec as an object has become almost impossible. This feeds, in my opinion, the decline of UQAM, which would benefit from cultivating its roots in French Quebec. »
She recalls that UQAM, founded half a century ago to educate Francophones from the working classes of Greater Montreal, was overtaken by its English-speaking twin sister at the other end of Sainte-Catherine Street, Concordia, which now has more students.
An editorial choice
Lori Saint-Martin says she understands the reluctance of people shaken by inclusive writing, but she believes that resistance will eventually fall. She avoids using such formulas in her works of fiction, but would have “no problem” publishing a text in a scholarly journal that would require feminization using the midpoint, for example.
In a recent work on literary translation, she chose to write “translator” everywhere, given that the profession is largely female. She explained herself in a note at the beginning of the book.
“It’s hard to be against inclusion. When you think about it, the phrase wanting that the masculine prevails over the feminine is nevertheless heavy with meaning,” underlines Vincent Larivière, professor at the Université de Montréal and holder of the Canada Research Chair on changes in scholarly communication.
The requirement of inclusive writing in the journal Sociological sessions does not shock him at all: “Scholarly journals have always had editorial constraints (text structure, style of bibliography, way of presenting tables and figures). It is a choice, like others, made by the editorial team. People, for their part, have the choice of submitting their manuscript to these journals if they feel like it. »