An initiative wants to ban the use of inclusive writing by the City of Zurich – rts.ch

For two years, the City of Zurich has been able to use, in certain official texts, an asterisk, the Germanic equivalent of a midpoint, in the form Zurich resident,to include and make visible gender minorities, such as non-binary people.

A municipal initiative, carried by the UDC with the support of the PLR ​​and the Center, however wants to go back and prohibit, in the Constitution of the City, any special character which could be used as inclusive language. The “Tschüss Genderstern” committee denounces a “politicization” of the language.

“A little conservative” resistance

A staunch opponent of inclusive language under the Federal Dome, the national advisor of the Valais Center Benjamin Roduit hopes for a ban on the asterisk in Zurich, and for this to serve as an example.

“The symbol is that we want to preserve a language which is effective and which allows one to express oneself as correctly as possible. And then we do not want to open the door to language reforms to all values ​​or tendencies societal”, in particular to the different developments in knowledge about gender, he explains.

I notice around me that on advertising posters, in more and more numerous brochures, this language has simply imposed itself

Councilor to the States of the canton of Jura, the socialist Mathilde Crevoisier Crelier criticizes this resistance to inclusive language, which according to her crystallizes the position of political groups with “a somewhat conservative vision of society”.

“Is the gender star enough to resolve all the problems of discrimination or lack of consideration of different gender diversities? No,” she emphasizes. “But we must above all look behind what the opponents of this star of the genre defend. And we see that often, these are the same groups who do not do much to reduce basic discrimination.”

A field of tensions

Sometimes virulent, the debates on inclusive writing are not ready to stop. And for good reason: language generally reflects the balance of power and the sensitivities of the communities that practice it, underlines Sandrine Zufferey, professor of French linguistics at the University of Bern.

Its evolution is therefore a field of tensions. And if the practices of administrations have an exemplary role in what makes a language evolve, it reminds us that it is the concrete uses which are decisive. “I would say that there is no absolute answer, no one is intrinsically right or wrong,” she nuances.

“When people who are against inclusive language show texts that are cut from all sides, we can obviously argue that they become unreadable. But we should not close ourselves off to its usefulness either,” continues the linguist. “And I see around me that on advertising posters, in more and more numerous brochures, this language has simply imposed itself.” However, in this type of context, “language has no reason to be the subject of prohibitions or obligations”.

Camille Degott/jop