#Weeknotes 30 (13 Aug) — Inclusive language: Why it’s inevitably difficult to apply
What does it mean to be truly inclusive?
To not exclude. Right?
According to the Diversity Group’s Say This, Not That: A Guide for Inclusive Language, “Increasing the inclusivity of our language means striving to understand the ways that language often unconsciously makes assumptions about people and unintentionally reinforces dominant norms around gender, sexual orientation, race, class, ability and disability, age, and more.”
I imagine ‘culture’ would make that list next to race as well.
Culture shapes language which in turn influences culture. But to be inclusive is to think diversely. So in a way, beyond cultures. That feels counterintuitive. And it beckons a requirement to understand diversity enough to be mindful of it.
Think of the phrase: “Delicious as bacon”.
Is that being sensitive to Jewish or Islam cultures who do not eat pork? What about vegetarians? Are we assuming that everyone will think bacon to be delicious? Are we excluding non-bacon enthusiasts? Is there even food we can all agree that is tasty? Instant noodles and McDonald’s fries are just a few of my guilty pleasures. But they’re also no good for those who never had them. I suppose we’ll have to go with “delicious as something delicious”! This would simplify many metaphors…
And what about regional differences? Being a Canadian I still sometimes call trousers pants. While pants mean trousers in North America, it means underwear in the UK. I found that out the hard way! It also took me a while to figure out eggplant is referred to as aubergine in the UK. 🍆
So when we write for a wide diverse audience, which region do we stick to? Which cultural norms do we start from? To include one is to exclude the other.
“Hello ladies”, was what I said to a group of women as I was hiking past them on a Brecon Beacons trail earlier this week in Wales. After I said it, specifically the word ‘ladies’, I wondered if I should have chosen a more gender-neutral word. After all, I didn’t know who they were and didn’t get a chance to ask each of them for their pronouns. It’s interesting how I started to question things that have been feeling so natural for me to say.
I feel if I truly aim to be inclusive, I have to question and doubt everything I say. And I would probably still get it all wrong.
Perhaps to apply language at all, we’d inevitably reinforce some dominant culture from which the language stems, thus slightly excluding some other cultures.
And that’s what makes inclusive language so darn difficult.
Controversial eh? 🧐
Perhaps I’m taking the “inclusive” bit of inclusive language a tad too far from its original intention of use. In the end, what matters is that we use language intentionally and are conscious of the implications of the words we use. Getting it wrong is ok and inevitable, as long as we’re continuously reflecting, curiously confused, and improving then we should be on the right track. :)
