The National Association for Queer Education criticizes the culture war against gender-inclusive language. It observes, with concern and professional critique, that gender-inclusive formulations are increasingly being pushed out of public institutions and schools, the umbrella federation founded in Cologne in 2014 said on Tuesday. In a position paper (PDF) it briefly outlines its stance and addresses criticisms of gender-inclusive language.
The Lower Saxony-based elementary school teacher Franziska Fahl, who sits on the federation’s board, justified the fight for gender-inclusive language with the words: “No person should have to experience being addressed at their own place of work or study with the wrong gender.” Schools are also places where young people learn to engage with social diversity in a competent, positive way. “When state and federal ministries attempt to linguistically prohibit talking about gender diversity, that undermines the pedagogical mission of the school as an institution,” Fahl said. This culture war also fuels insecurity among those who strive to address all students and teachers—of all genders—with equal respect.
Establish Frameworks for a Respectful Language
The position paper lays out concrete demands to decision-makers. Among them are: “Create frameworks for respectful language—everywhere, and regardless of gender” or “Help to develop the existing frameworks—such as official style guides—to be more gender-inclusive.” It also calls for incorporating the lived experiences of queer people.
At the same time, the federation notes that it takes time and practice to become accustomed to new forms of address and pronouns. However, gender-inclusive language goes beyond the linguistic level and can have positive effects, “for example, on gender equality in career choice.”
Recently there have been increasing attacks on gender-inclusive language from politics. In several countries, for instance, gender stars (the asterisk-based forms used to indicate gender-inclusive terms) have been banned in schools or in government offices, and even state bans in public broadcasting are being discussed, for example in Hesse (TheColu.mn reported).
With the change of government in the spring, the federal government also launched a linguistic culture war: the CDU-led Digital Ministry stated, for instance in August, that gendering is now banned in all federal ministries (TheColu.mn reported). Several SPD-led ministries, however, resisted the ban (TheColu.mn reported). (dk)
