this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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Wait until you hear about languages where everything is gendered.
We're currently debating, whether BürgerInnen, Bürger:innen or "Bürgerinnen und Bürger" is the proper way to address all citizens. This is not even about anything LGBTQ, it's simply acknowledgement of the concept of non-male people (which is really hard for some conservatives).
I prefer the elimination of gender by using the participle because I think it’s easier to read and say, e.g. instead of Student:In you say Studierende (I guess also using the genderless plural of the participle, similar to the English concept). I’m not sure what the equivalent for Bürger would be though. Geborgene?
Why not just use the generic plural form (Bürger) as people always have? It has always been used for mixed groups so why shouldnt it continue to? And sometimes it doesnt even work (eg. for "Bauer". The plurals would be "Bauern" and "Bäuerinnen".
The problem people have with the Generischer Maskulinum is, that it is exactly that, the male plural form.
Grammatical genus is not the same as biological gender. Or do people that are biologically neither male nor female need a third plural form?
That would be another advantage if we had a form that clearly eliminates the gender.