Queering the French Académie

Abstract

Trans and non-binary communities have long known the importance of linguistic practices and the power that determining the meaning of words and which words fit has over one’s feelings of validation, visibility, acceptance and existence. In the French-speaking context, and in France, especially, trans and non-binary people not only have to construct their identities within a strongly binary language but also face the gatekeeping and constraining power of the French Académie. This article examines the linguistic practices of trans users on two online forums and highlights three main strategies used by French-speaking trans and non-binary individuals: (1) the non-normative use of binary grammatical gender to index non-binary identities, (2) the reframing of body parts as either non-indexical of sex/gender or as indexing only one’s self-identified sex/gender, and (3) the use of English terminology.