Friday, Sept. 29, the College of William and Mary hosted professor of French and Francophone studies at Vassar College Vinay Swamy to give a presentation on the challenges faced by nonbinary people in France, including difficulties being accepted by their own language. During the presentation, he promoted his new book titled “Devenir Non-Binaire en Français Contemporain,” which translates as “To be Nonbinary in Contemporary France.”
According to Swamy, while the anglophone world has widely accepted “they” as a neutral singular pronoun, the French language does not have a similar pronoun. Gender inclusivity in the French language is complex due to intricacies of French grammar.
“The first step consists of noting the linguistic hurdles with which any theorizing in the French language has to contend,” Swamy said.
He referred to the absence of neutral pronouns in French and claimed the language is instilled with misogynistic rules. He provided an example, stating that there could be a group of 200 females in a room, and the second that one male joins, the whole group is then referred to with the male conjugation. In France, masculine-gendered words are considered the neutral form. Swamy then discussed the reason why some of these changes have been held up.
“In comparison with the North American experience, trans-activism on pronouns is not so prevalent in France,” said Swamy.
“In comparison with the North American experience, trans-activism on pronouns is not so prevalent in France,” said Swamy.
“L’ecriture inclusive,” or inclusive writing, has gained popularity in France as a movement to combat the male biases of the French language. Related initiatives include promoting the use of pronouns like “ille,” which is considered a gender neutral subject pronoun, and “iel,” which is considered a gender inclusive subject pronoun.
“I want us to kind of think about gender in those terms,” Swamy said. “Like can we have more expansive possibilities rather than thinking about it in just a binary rectangle and square? Masculine, feminine.”
According to Swamy, another way French writers have sought to make the language more inclusive is by adding parentheses at the end of words with the feminine conjugation, so that both genders are represented. He also suggested saying both gender versions of a word, for example, “Francais, Francaise.”
Swamy then discussed the political backlash against such inclusive writing programs, including dissent on the pronoun “iel” from Académie Française, the French language council. Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, however, is pushing for a more inclusive French language. Swamy mentioned that her administration currently creates tote bags with inclusive slogans to educate and distribute to the public.
Many attendees stayed for a question and answer session following Swamy’s presentation.
Following the event, Miranda Yañez ’23 discussed her reflections;
“I don’t think there would be anything better than ‘iel.’ I think it’s harder than in English because we have ‘they/them,’” Yañez said. “It’s already in our vocabulary. And, I think their bigger problem is having no gendered language at all — gendered adjectives and subjects or job titles and stuff like that. But that would require a whole system overhaul for that.”
Professor of German studies Jennifer Gülly attended the event, too, and praised Swamy’s presentation.
“It was a really lovely presentation. I thought it was really clear and easy to follow for people who don’t know much about French,” Gülly said.
“It was a really lovely presentation. I thought it was really clear and easy to follow for people who don’t know much about French,” Gülly said.
Gülly added that her perspective as an educator influenced her interest in the presentation.
Towards the end of the question and answer session, an audience member asked Swamy what the future of teaching French, or any highly-gendered language, would look like since there are currently no textbooks with inclusive language. Swamy answered that a liberal arts education provides the tools to tackle the road ahead for inclusive language.
“One of the things that I feel like we’re very good at in the liberal arts education is to sit with a problem and know that discomfort might actually produce something that is very productive,” he said.
Swamy finished his presentation with a hopeful attitude about the future of the French language’s inclusivity, but also acknowledged the discomfort it will take to get there.
