Inclusive language is a use of language that actively seeks to include people of all genders , and it is argue that current standards are not enough for this.
Traditionally, in Spanish the masculine is consider to encompass all genders. Thus, to include a group of ten women, we say “all”, but if the group has only one man, the norm states that we must say “all”.
People who defend inclusive language think that considering masculine as the default gender makes more than half of the population invisible, as well as giving rise to confusion: when we say “the students”, are we talking about a group made up of exclusively by men, or are there also people of other genders?
To resolve this situation, inclusive language proposes different alternatives: there is no single inclusive language, nor a single “correct” way to use it. Let’s see what the options are and what pros and cons each one has.
1# Unfold the genres
This alternative consists of including both the feminine and the masculine gender , either separating the endings with a slash (“niños/as”) or including both words (“ministers and ministers”). It is one of the most used and we have been listening to it for years (just think of the well-known “ladies and gentlemen, gentlemen and ladies…”).
With it, there is no doubt that both men and women Namibia Email List are . But in return, it can be cumbersome and make reading difficult (imagine how heavy it can be to unfold all the words in a text where a group is referr to).
Another criticism that is made of this resource is that it is based on a binary conception of gender, that is, it only recognizes the possibility that there are men or women. To this day, many people consider that gender is not a matter of “black or white” and identify with other options (non-binary, gender fluid, etc.). Therefore, they may feel that this option also excludes them.
2# Replace the gender mark with “x” or “@”
This option is also old, and is used above all in the most activist environments. It consists of replacing the letter that marks the gender (the “o” or the “a”) by another character that includes both:
- The at sign (if you look closely, it is compos TR Numbers of an “o” that surrounds an “a”). Eg “Tod@s” or “students”.
- The x (since all people have the x chromosome). Thus, we would speak of “children”.
