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#'Gender-neutral' is banned from French government papers
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French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has ordered that so-called "inclusive writing" - an attempt to make French grammar more politically correct and gender neutral - must not be used in official government texts.
The ban was the latest twist in a bitter row over "écriture inclusive,” which splits up words using a punctuation point called a middot, so that for example the plural word “amis” (friends) becomes “ami•e•s” and “citoyens” (citizens) becomes “citoyen•ne•s.”
The new spellings include feminine forms rather than following the rule that plural masculine endings denote both women and men - a practice that the French ministry for gender equality has described as a form of sexual tyranny.
The ban was the latest twist in a bitter row over "écriture inclusive,” which splits up words using a punctuation point called a middot, so that for example the plural word “amis” (friends) becomes “ami•e•s” and “citoyens” (citizens) becomes “citoyen•ne•s.”
The new spellings include feminine forms rather than following the rule that plural masculine endings denote both women and men - a practice that the French ministry for gender equality has described as a form of sexual tyranny.
Source: Telegraph