Is Language Intrinsically ‘Fascist’? The Relationship between Gender Across Languages and Ostracism.

The present work aims to answer the question of whether and under what circumstances the language can be considered as intrinsically ‘fascist’ (Barthes 1978), in that it compels us to speak in a certain rule-governed way, or it is possible to manipulate it through the use of gender-fair strategies. This will be assessed through a comparative analysis of gendered, natural gender, and genderless languages, together with a discussion of the effects brought on the gender equality achievements by each gender group. In particular, the study aims at examining and comparing theoretical and empirical research on the effectiveness of gender-fair language techniques, including the manipulation of personal pronouns, feminisation, neutralisation, diminutive/augmentative morphology with nefarious intent, and other morpho-syntactic features employed to avoid gender discrimination and stereotyping.