Le Merle à L'alambic By T. Pralinus

french trans people on 31st march

french trans people on 1st April

Google Docs

Le français dans les tags du site Archive of our Own

Ce sondage vise à récolter des données dans le cadre d'un mémoire de Master dédié à l'analyse de la place de la langue française au sein des

Bonjour ! Je fais mon mémoire de master sur la place du français au sein des tags d'Archive of our Own. Afin d'avoir la perspective des utilisateur.ices du site, j'ai créé un petit sondage, et ça m'aiderait grandement si certain.es (ou beaucoup) d'entre vous pouviez y participer.

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Hello! I'm doing my master's thesis on the French language is used in Archive of our Own's tagging system. I created a survey to collect users' perspectives and I would be very grateful if some (maybe many!) of you could take a few minutes and fill it in.

Hi! I’m starting to learn French and one thing that’s both cool and weird to me is how everything is gendered in a way (referring to someone/whose saying the statement/etc.) and I was wondering how that relates to people who identity as non-binary or gender fluid in France? Are there equivalents to they/them pronouns or neo pronouns in French?

I do plan on doing my own research about this but I figured since I love your blog and you’re really open about different cultural lgbtq+ communities I’d try here first!

That's an awesome question... with a complicated answer lmao. So buckle up and bear with me !

Basically, you can't be non-binary in French. The community found ways to do it but it's not mainstream. Most of the time, they're going to get misgendered or will have to misgender themselves to get understood.

Some things I'm going to list here are not proper French. Actually, they can even be forbidden in some circumstances, according to the law (the use of inclusive language, and more specifically le point médian, was made illegal in schools in 2021 for ex) or simply because your company etc forbids it. So use this wisely, there is a time and place for inclusive language in France.

That said, things have greatly developed over the last two decades. Which was partly because of the queer community and mainly because of feminists, who are tired of the way French erases women. More and more people are using inclusive language, at least in some circumstances and circles (for ex, i wrote my master's thesis in inclusive language and it was accepted bc i was in a leftist faculty). And inclusive language is debated as a serious issue now, which is saying something.

So, how do you use inclusive language in practice?

There are different ways, as it's informal and mostly new. People are still testing new things and trying out various methods. You can stick to one or alternate or mix them up.

Pronouns

Officially, there isn't a gender neutral pronoun. We don't have an equivalent to they. You're either talking about a man or a woman. If it's both, you use masculine pronouns ("masculine trumps feminine" rule). Same thing if you don't know the gender of the person ("masculin générique").

The most common neopronoun is "iel" (plural : iels), which is obviously a contraction of the masculine pronoun "il" and its feminine equivalent "elle". It works for nb folks or to avoid talking about someone's gender or to refer to a group of men and women. So it's equally used by the queer community and feminists.

I'm pretty sure other neopronouns exist but I can't think of any at the top of my head.

Choosing the right words

Sometimes, inclusive language is just about learning to use alternatives.

Instead of using gendered words, you can choose to use gender-neutral words or words "épicènes", aka words which are identical in their feminine and masculine form. For ex, instead of "homme politique" or "femme politique", you can use "personnalité politique". Personnalité is a feminine word but it's actually gender-neutral as you can use it for women and men alike. "Élève" (student) is épicène, as a female student and a male student are both referred to as "élève". Although épicène words as a gender-neutral option only work in their plural form, as you have to choose either a feminine or masculine article for the singular ("les élèves" is inclusive but it can only be "un" or "une" élève).

As good as this method is, it can be quite limitating. Your vocabulary will be drastically reduced and it can be quite hard to master that kind of speech so you can reach the point where you don't have to think everything over for ages before you open your mouth.

With oral French, you can take it a step further by choosing words that sound the same even if they have a different spelling. Ex, friend is "ami" or "amie" but it's pronounced the same way so if you say it out loud, people can't know how you're gendering it (as long as there isn't a gendered article/word with it ofc).

It avoids misgendering people but the downside is that, as masculine is considered neutral in French, people will often think : no gender specified = masculine. Not even because they're sexist or whatever, it's just so ingrained in our brains that it's a knee-jerk reaction.

That's also why most feminists often prefer to use explicitly feminine words when talking about women. For ex, they prefer the word "autrice" to "auteure" (female writer) because the second one sounds the same as its masculine version "auteur". And as previously mentionned, out loud, people will assume by default you're talking about a man. It's a big debate though, lots of women prefer words that sound masculine - going as far as refusing to use feminine words at all! Which sounds cool and gender-bending as fuck but in reality comes from feminine words traditionally seen as less legitimate and serious. Even today, if you look up the word empress "impératrice" in a French dictionary, the first definition that comes up is "wife of an emperor". "Woman ruling a country" comes second. Using a masculine title to refer to women can also be a way to mock them and show they're not welcome (a french deputy got fined in 2014 because he called the female president of the national assembly "Madame le président" and refused to use the feminine title "Madame la présidente").

Recently the tendency and official guidelines have been to feminize words, so I'd say go with that by default, but respect other people's choice if they specify how they want to be called.

Anyway I'm getting off-track but what I meant was that in French, if you avoid talking about gender, you're automatically erasing women (and nb people). So if you want to include everyone, you need to make it obvious.

Inclusivity as a statement

The most common way to make women and men equally visible is the "point médian" rule, which you can also use to refer to non-binary people as it avoids picking a specific gender.

Basically, it means pasting together the masculine and feminine forms of a word and using dots/middle dots/hyphens/parentheses/capital letters to create an inclusive word. For ex, instead of saying acteur (♂️) or actrice (♀️) for actor, you'll write "acteur.ice". For the plural form, there are two schools of thought : either you separate the feminine and masculine form AND the suffix used to signify the plural, or you don't. Aka, "acteur.ice.s" or "acteur.ices". Personally I prefer the second option because less dots makes it easier to read and faster to write, but it's an individual choice, both work.

There are two major downsides to this method : it only works in writing + it isn't doable for every word, as feminine and masculine words can be quite different and pasting them together that way would be unintelligible. Ex, "copain" and "copine" (friend or boyfriend/girlfriend depending on the context) would give something like "cop.ain.ine"...

You can work around that by choosing alternative words (as previously stated!). And it's still a pretty good method, especially as it works for any type of word (adjectives etc). Some people argue that it's hard to read and ugly but personally I think it's just a matter of habit (although it does pose a problem for people using screen readers). Be aware that it is the most controversial version of inclusive writing, as it's the furthest structure from how languages typically work.

If you don't like dots or want an alternative for oral speech, you can also straight up create new words that sound both feminine and masculine, making them gender-neutral. To use the previous example, "copain" and "copine" become "copaine".

Obviously, this only works if it's obvious which words they're based on. I think it's a great way to make French more inclusive but I'd advise against using it with uninitiated people as it would probably confuse them more than anything. This method is still quite niche.

An inclusive, yet binary language

As you've probably figured out, inclusive language remains quite binary in the way we approach it. It's more about making things both masculine and feminine than transcending gender and creating gender-neutral alternatives. Probably because inclusive language was more often a will to stop women from being erased rather than a non-binary friendly gesture.

Which means, there are also some rules that were created to avoid the "masculine trumps feminine rule" but don't allow room for non-binarity at all. I'll still explain them because they're interesting and you might encounter them at some point.

The proximity rule ("règle de proximité") is one of these. It existed in Ancient Greek and Latin but was dropped in Modern French in favor of the masculine trumps feminine rule. Basically, you gender things according to what's closest in the sentence instead of systematically using masculine words to gender a mixed group. For ex, instead of saying "Les hommes et les femmes sont beaux" you say "Les hommes et les femmes sont belles", as the subject "femmes" is closer to the adjective "beau/belle" than "hommes".

Another method is to systematically use both masculine and feminine words (which I personally find excruciating to write and read). Meaning, instead of writing "Les étudiants mangent à la cantine" (students eat at the cafeteria), you'll write "Les étudiantes et les étudiants mangent à la cantine".

This is mainly for the subject of the sentence : adjectives and such are gendered according to the masculine trumps feminine rule. The point is to explicitly include women, not to make the sentence unintelligible or gender-neutral.

When following this method, you also have to pay attention to whether you put the feminine subject first or the masculine. The rule is to follow alphabetical order. For ex, in "l'égalité entre les femmes et les hommes", "femmes" comes first because F comes before H. But in "Les auteurs et les autrices de roman", "auteurs" comes first because E comes before R. Etc.

This method is common as it's the only inclusive language you can get away with, given that it's a valid way of speaking French. It's even mandatory in some situations now, like in job descriptions for the french administration, in the spirit of gender equality.

So, how do I gender a non-binary person?

In short, you can use the pronoun iel + avoid gendered words and/or use the point médian and/or make up new words.

But keep in mind that if you're not talking to someone familiar with these rules, you'll have some explaining to do. And looots of people are still very anti inclusive language, because they're sexist and/or transphobic, ignorant, language purists, etc. A few years ago it was the thing to be angry about for conservatives and anti-feminists so it's still very controversial. But if you're in a trans inclusive queer space or talking with intersectionnal leftists, go for it !

I hope I covered everything (fellow french, don't hesitate to comment!) and didn't put you to sleep lmao. If you want to see some examples, you can look it up on Wikipedia or check #bagaitte on tumblr (it's the french queer tag) 😉

Les Grandes oubliées. Pourquoi l’Histoire a effacé les femmes, Titiou Lecocq

Première incursion pour moi dans les sciences-humaines, et DAMN !

« Les femmes ont fait l'histoire, elles ont régné, elles ont gouverné, combattu, elles ont milité, écrit, crié parfois. Elles n'ont jamais été les spectatrices d'un monde que les hommes dirigeaient. Ça, c'est une fable historique. Même quand elles ont été exclues des sphères de pouvoir, elles ont continué à résister. C'est aussi cela, notre histoire commune. Et l'histoire des femmes, ce n'est pas que l'histoire des femmes. C'est également la vôtre, messieurs. Vous êtes, vous aussi, les descendants de ces femmes qu'on a oubliées et réduites au silence. »

Je sors de ma lecture des Grandes oubliées avec le cerveau en compote et un goût d’injustice. Je connaissais Titou Lecocq de nom, je défendais déjà ses ouvrages à la librairie et encore plus celui-ci, et j’ai enfin pris le temps de le lire. Je sais pas pourquoi, je pensais avoir compris qu’on allait nous parler des femmes oubliées, genre les inventeuses, les autrices, etc. (Désolée !) En fait, pas du tout, enfin, si, mais pas tellement. C’est l’histoire des femmes. Point.

Des femmes dans l’Histoire. Vous saviez que les femmes pendant la Préhistoire n’étaient pas enfermées dans les grottes avec l’éducation des marmots, mais qu’elles chassaient, cueillaient et peignaient aussi ? Et que tout le monde s’occupait des enfants ? Et que les femmes pendant l’Antiquité avaient (aussi) un rite de passage à l’âge adulte qui consistait à se déguiser en ourses, sacrifier une chèvre et courir nues ? Et qu’au Moyen Âge, les femmes régnaient, étaient autrices, enlumineuses, bardes, chevaleresses, bâtisseuses de cathédrales et j’en passe ? Et que la chasse aux sorcières du XVIe siècle vient des hommes du clergé qui… quoi d’ailleurs ? avaient peur des femmes ? Et que c’est sévère parti en cacahouètes avec les Lumières et Napoléon ?

Encore un autre exemple hyper parlant (pour moi), désolée l’extrait est un peu long :

« Il faut également parler d'Émilienne Moreau-Évrard. Sacrée femme, Émilienne. Elle est née en 1898 dans le Pas-de-Calais. Elle habite dans la ville de Loos, près de Lille, et veut être institutrice quand éclate la Première Guerre mondiale. Loos est occupée par les Allemands, et Émilienne décide d'organiser dans une cave une école clandestine pour les enfants. Elle a 17 ans. En septembre 1915, alors que les Écossais attaquent pour reprendre la ville, elle va à leur rencontre pour leur donner les positions des troupes allemandes. Puis, avec un médecin écossais, elle organise dans sa propre maison un poste de secours et y soigne les blessés de l'assaut. Ensuite, je cite sa fiche biographique sur le site de l'ordre du Mérite : ‘‘Pour sauver un soldat anglais pris sous la mitraille, elle n'hésite pas à sortir de chez elle, armée de grenades, et parvient, avec l'aide de quelques soldats anglais, à mettre hors d'état de nuire deux soldats alle-mands, embusqués dans une maison voisine. Un peu plus tard, alors que la maison est cernée, elle se saisit d'un révol ver et abat à travers la porte deux fantassins ennemis.’’ »

Comment diable est-ce qu’après avoir passé 15 ans de ma vie à vivre juste à côté de Loos je n’entends parler de cette femme que maintenant ?????

Bon, je m’arrête là avec les exemples, mais vous voyez le topo : Titiou Lecocq nous invite à nous pencher et à redécouvrir l’Histoire des femmes, et comment on les a invisibilisées, réduites au silence et oubliées. Le tout en s’appuyant sur des exemples concrets et des travaux d’historiennes et de quelques historiens. C’est hyper hyper intéressant, j’ai appris énormément de choses et mon cerveau a surchauffé. J’ai adoré. J’ai mis du temps à me pencher dessus, mais alors je ne regrette absolument pas ! J’avais aussi peur que, étant un ouvrage de sciences-humaines, ce soit incompréhensible et/ou compliqué à lire comme des articles universitaires, mais pas du tout ! C’est hyper fluide, très bien écrit, bien construit, et abordé presque comme une histoire. C’est un grand coup de cœur inattendu ! Et maintenant j’ai très envie de lire son dernier ouvrage Le couple et l’argent 👀

05/11/2023 - 11/11/2023

hey chat did you guys know there's a whole website with informational videos on the rights you hold when interacting with ICE or witnessing interactions with ICE. all written by immigrants and for immigrants. idk man it'd be a shame if people watched these informational videos y'know.

We Have Rights

We Have Rights

Beaux-arts des modes, no. 3, avril 1925 (New York, Paris, London, Milano, Wien, Bruxelles). Bibliothèque nationale de France

(168.) Three pieces suit in navy blue serge. Loose jacket with side pockets and buttonholes. Skirt lapping over in front. Waistcoat of other shaded crêpe with crossed fronts. Black and white silk braid. Atelier Bachroitz.

les signes de ponctuation en fraçais

le point - period (🇺🇸) full stop (🇬🇧) [ . ]

la virgule - comma [ , ]

le point-virgule - semicolon [ ; ]

les deux points - colon [ : ]

Les trois points de suspension- ellipsis [ ... ]

le point d'interrogation- question mark [ ? ]

le point d'exclamation - exclamation mark [ ! ]

l'apostrophe (f) - apostrophe [ ' ]

les guillemets - guillemets [ « » ] (En anglais, on n’emploie jamais de guillemet français)

les guillemets anglais/les guillemets en apostrophe - quotation mark [ " " ] (🇺🇸) [ ' ' ] (🇬🇧) rarely/never used in French

les parenthèses - parenthesis [ ( ) ]

les crochets - brackets [ [ ] ]

les acolades - curly brackets/braces [ { } ]

le tiret - dash [ - ]

le tiret long/tiret cadratin - em dash [ — ]

la barre oblique/le slash - slash [ / ]

la barre oblique inversée/ le backslash - backslash [ \ ]

l'esperluette (f) - ampersand [ & ]

l'arobase - at sign [ @ ]

l'astérisque - asterisk [ * ]

Je viens de voir sur tiktok une vidéo sur Ford x Fiddleford avec du MAITRE GIMS, je vais peut-être décéder.