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The Problems with Gender-Neutral Language
Some political, some technical. But having strong opinions isn’t always smart.
Earlier this week, the Ministry of Education of the city of Buenos Aires in Argentina passed a resolution prohibiting teachers from using gender-neutral or inclusive (as it is called here) language when teaching.
Another example of Republican-style hate of the LGBTIQ+ community spreading far beyond the borders of the United States?
Not exactly, though there may be some similar political motivations.
A Hot and Confusing Topic
Inclusive language has been a hot topic in Argentina for the past ten years, and it’s still no closer to becoming standard than it was then. The reason is that it’s not well implemented and probably won’t be, because Spanish can be tricky.
Just a basic Spanish lesson here: Spanish pronouns, nouns and adjectives that end in -o are masculine. Spanish words that end in -a are usually feminine. But nouns can also end in other letters, like -n or -e. Words like estudiante (student) can be either masculine or feminine.
The real problem arises when you’re referring to a group. If there’s even one masculine noun in the group, everything and everyone is referred to…
