RQ: How does the role of gender and gender-neutrality in Spanish and Swedish affect the self-

reported wellbeing and feelings of inclusion of non-binary and genderqueer people in general
society?

TS: In languages in which gender is a more prominent feature, e.g. Latin languages such as
Spanish, the inclusion of gender-neutral terminology is less widespread and misgendering is a
more common experience for non-binary and genderqueer people which can be linked to a
worse wellbeing.

Key Terms:
- non-binary
- genderqueer
- gender-neutral terminology
- gendered language
- Spanish
- Swedish
- inclusivity

Introduction - 400 words

● Establish significance of language (feminists and trans activists attempting to alter language)
● Gender neutral terminology activism
- Example of Kivi and the Monster Dog in Swedish (first book published in Sweden that
exclusively uses the gender neutral pronoun “hen,” inspired by the Finnish gender neutral
“hän”): (Gustafsson Sendén, Bäck & Lindqvist, 2015)
- Example of non-binary and genderqueer activism in Spanish (Bonnin & Coronel, 2021)
● Why Spanish and Swedish
- Germanic and Latin languages differ greatly in their handling of gender and thus also in how
gender-neutral terminology can be applied in theory and practice.
● Refined Research question:
● Preliminary thesis statement:

Chapter 1 - Swedish language and Gender - 350 words

● Swedish is a Germanic language and therefore follows some Germanic notions.
● Swedish utilises mostly two gendered pronouns (hon and han) where gender is the most
obvious.
● Swedish nouns are partly gendered meaning they are either “common,” being masculine and
feminine merged together (-en) or neutral (-et)
● Swedish articles signify the gender of the noun and are added to the end of the noun
- brev = letter; brevet = the letter
- häst = horse; hästen = the horse

Chapter 2 - Swedish Gender Neutrality (Hen) - 350 words

● In Swedish due to the lack of obvious gender in nouns which is present in many Latin
languages, pronouns are the avenue chosen to include gender neutral terminology. This led to
the inclusion of the third pronoun “Hen” in Swedish. [Source]
● Kivi and the Monster Dog
 ● Acceptance and Usage of gender neutral terminology in Sweden is widespread, arguably
more widespread than in pretty much any other gendered language, however some opposition
remains.
● Usage of gender neutral pronouns for children is especially controversial (example of pre-
school Egalia in Stockholm)
● https://www.aftonbladet.se/debatt/a/oRkLxW/hen--ett-dumfeministiskt-fjaderfa
● https://www.wired.com/story/actually-gender-neutral-pronouns-can-change-a-culture/

Chapter 3 - Swedish non-binary and genderqueer people - 400 words

● Swedish is the first in Europe for gender equality (European institute for gender equality)
● Non binary and genderqueer people, though being an underrepresented group in many fields
of study, are avid to be included in literature. Thus studies on the feelings of inclusivity are
mostly based on self-reporting. (Zeluf et al., 2016)
● Non binary and genderqueer people’s identity are invalidated through language, especially in
fields such as medicine, therefore it leads to delayed visitations to doctors and a lack of help
from professionals. Their health is worse than cisgender people, though the direct causes are
unknown, the evidence highly suggests it is due to environmental factors such as the
acceptance in their community. When gender neutral language is used, their identity is
affirmed and people are more likely to seek help. (Orre, 2017)
● As in most countries, transgender people (thus also non-binary and genderqueer people as
transgender is used as an umbrella term of sorts) feel discomfort being in public spaces and
are afraid for their safety. Safe spaces they create themselves allow them to feel at ease.
(Linander et al., 2019)
● Sweden does not legally recognize the existence of non-binary and genderqueer people which
leads to frequent misgendering and links to bad health. (Meyer, 2007)

Chapter 4 - Spanish language and gender - 450 words

● In Spanish all terms are gendered and the gender of a noun must correspond with the
adjective and article.
● The “standard” gender in Spanish is masculine, therefore native speakers often make errors
when referring to feminine terms. (Martínez & Dussias, 2019)
● When testing monolingual spanish speakers on their ability to recognize gender in words not
ending in regular endings (-o and -a) a preference towards masculine words was found
● There are two acronyms that mostly describe the gender of Spanish words. Words ending in
ADZIONUMBRE are mostly masculine whereas words ending in LONERS are feminine.
(Clegg, 2011)
● Practitioners of a certain art or discipline are usually masculine whereas the discipline itself is
feminine. (Bergen, 1980)
● When referring to two objects that differ in size, the larger one is usually feminine. Moreover,
the entities which are in their natural state are masculine whereas the altered state is
feminised. (Bergen, 1980)
● All these examples display the significance of gender in Spanish as a language, these
distinctions of gender are usually formed in social contexts as the origins of Spanish (Latin)
only had clear biological distinctions for gender and saw the rest as neutral.

Chapter 5 - Spanish Gender Neutrality - (ues/u/z) - 450 words

● Spanish gender neutrality must be imposed on almost all words considering the large extent to
which Spanish language is gendered.
 ● Examples of Spanish gender neutrality are the shift from the word “amigos” which is mostly
considered a “neutral” term though being inherently masculine, to words such as “amigues”.
A similar thing can be done to the word “chicos” which may be altered to “chiques” (Bonnin
& Coronel, 2021)
● In digital spaces the use of @ to signify gender neutrality used to be very popular, however it
was mostly disregarded as the @ emulates an -a and -o making it too binary according to
many. In Spanish the @ is mostly replaced by the use of -e and -x. The usage of -e was
mostly introduced by Argentinian trans activist Lohana Berkins. (Romero & Funes, 2018)
● The usage of -x in the case of English when referring to Spanish people is very evident in
their usage of latinx as the alternative to latino or latina. Additionally the term “latine” is also
utilised however latinx is more widespread in the English-speaking world.
● As Spanish pronouns “ella” and “él” are obviously gendered, people have argued for the
inclusion of “elle” as a gender-neutral variant. (Bonnin & Coronel, 2021)
● Alternatives for Spanish articles (“el” and “los”, “la” and “las”) can be “ol” for singular nouns
and “oles” for plural nouns. (Bonnin & Coronel, 2021)
● Therefore though Spanish has a more intricate relationship with gender than Swedish,
applying gender neutrality is very much possible.

Chapter 6 - Spanish non-binary and genderqueer people - 400 words

● Though a study conducted on over 4000 people suggested Spanish speakers had favourable
attitudes towards using gender neutral language with 70% finding it acceptable. Sadly, only
50% would actually use gender neutral terminology in their day to day life. (Bonnin &
Coronel, 2021)
● A research conducted found that non-binary people in Spain have the worst self-reported
mental and physical health in comparison to cisgender and binary transgender people. Though
the direct links cannot be explicitly found, research suggests that it can be linked to frequent
misgendering. (Ciria-Barreiro, 2021)
● A research shows that non-binary and transgender youth experienced more verbal and
physical attacks inside and outside of school than their cisgender peers. Moreover they feel
like they receive less support from their family and friends, leading to feelings of unhappiness
and loneliness. (Aparicio-García et al., 2018)
● The law in Spain does not legally recognise the existence of non-binary people which has
proven to lead to difficulty for non-binary people. (Aparicio-García et al., 2018)

Chapter 7 - Comparison - 500 words

● gender inclusive language is possible in both Swedish and Spanish
● It is relatively well established in general society in Sweden, perhaps also due to Swedish
grammar being less gendered as compared to the Spanish one and due to it being used in
official documents, newspaper articles, books, etc.
● In Spanish, gender inclusive language is rather used by young, liberal people in bigger cities,
especially the interfix “e,” as in “amigues,” as it is very easy to pronounce, yet also the suffix
“x,” as in “Latinx”
● In general, non-binary people seem to feel safer and more included in general society in
Sweden as compared to Spain

Chapter 8 - Discussion - 300 words

Failure of other Latin (French) and Germanic (German) languages
● Latin language
 - French has two grammatical genders for nouns, adjectives, and pronouns: masculine and
feminine
- Gender neutral/gender inclusive language is very controversial in France
- People generally either say both the masculine and the feminine form “Chers étudiants et
chères étudiantes”) or generically use only the masculine form
- In 2017, the French prime minister banned gender inclusive language in official texts
(https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2017/11/21/le-premier-ministre-edouard-philippe-
decide-de-bannir-l-ecriture-inclusive-des-textes-officiels_5218122_823448.html)
- The Academie française, which is responsible for regulating the French language in France,
does not allow for feminine/gender neutral job titles either, as this is not “suitable” for the
French language, yet supports the so-called generic masculinum (https://www.academie-
francaise.fr/actualites/la-feminisation-des-noms-de-metiers-fonctions-grades-ou-titres-mise-
au-point-de-lacademie)
- In Francophone Canada and Belgium, however, non-gendered job titles are widespread and in
the Francophone Canadian province of Québec, they are even mandatory
- In Québec, the usage of the non-binary pronoun “iel,” coined of “elle” (she) and “il”) (he) is
relatively widespread, combined with gender neutral adjectives such as “Je suis content.e”
(the “.” symbolising a short speaking pause), with “content” being masculine and “contente”
being feminine
- Having lived in Québec, I can attest that this kind of gender inclusive language is relatively
widespread and easily used, especially amongst the younger generation in the city of
Montréal
- Take away: gender inclusive language is possible in French - the French just do not want to
● Germanic languages
- German has three grammatical genders for nouns, adjectives, and pronouns, masculine,
feminine, and neutre, although it should be stated that the neutre pronoun “es” is solely used
for inanimate objects, meaning it would be dehumanising to use it for a person
- Also in German, gender neutral/gender inclusive is quite controversial
- In general, just like in French, it seems to be most common to either say both the masculine
and feminine form “Liebe Studenten und Studentinnen” or to make use of the generic
masculinum
- Due to the way German grammar works, adjectifying nouns is also possible, although it may
sound a little bulky at times (“Liebe Studierende”)
- Sometimes a capitalised “I” is used to include both men and women “Liebe BesucherInnen,”
although then there is evidently the issue that non-binary people are not included
- Recently, the use of an asterisk is gaining more ground, as in “Student*innen”
- The asterisk is pronounced as a short speaking pause and aims to include non-binary people
just like in Québec, you hear it being used quite a lot amongst young people in big cities such
as Berlin
- In German, pronouns are a controversial topic, as contrary to Swedish, Spanish, and French
here is no single well-established non-binary pronoun. Some people use “ersie” or “sier” (“er”
= he; “sie” = she) or even the English gender neutral pronoun “they” (E. g.:“They” isst/essen.)

Conclusion - 400 words

● Swedish is less gendered thus the inclusion of gender neutral terminology often takes the
form of "hen"
● “Hen” is more widespread in Sweden than Spanish gender neutral terminology partly due to
 the extent to which Swedish is gendered is less than Spanish
● Spanish is a more gendered language having gendered nouns, articles and pronouns and
gender neutrality often takes the form of the morpheme -e or the addition of -x. When
referring to certain words some additional letters have to be changed e.g. chicos to chiques
and amigos to amigues.
● Having more gender neutral terminology betters the mental and physical health of non-binary
and genderqueer people and makes them more prone to reach out for help.
● In both Spain and Sweden, non-binary and genderqueer people have worse self-reported
mental and physical health than their cisgender peers.
● However there may not be a big reported difference in the health of non-binary and
genderqueer people in Sweden/Spain which may be attributed to the still widespread practice
of misgendering and other factors.
● Thus misgendering = bad but gender neutral terminology becoming more widespread may
better it as it partly has in Sweden
● gender inclusive language is more established in Swedish than in German and more
established in Spanish than in French, but it is certainly possible to achieve it in German and
French too

Reference list

Académie française. (2014). La féminisation des noms de métiers, fonctions, grades ou titres - Mise
au point de l'Académie française. Académie française. https://www.academie-
francaise.fr/actualites/la-feminisation-des-noms-de-metiers-fonctions-grades-ou-titres-mise-
au-point-de-lacademie
Aparicio-García, M. E., Díaz-Ramiro, E. M., Rubio-Valdehita, S., López-Núñez, M. I., & García-
Nieto, I. (2018). Health and Well-Being of Cisgender, Transgender and Non-Binary Young
People. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(10), 2133.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15102133
Beatty-Martínez, A. L., & Dussias, P. E. (2019). Revisiting Masculine and Feminine Grammatical
Gender in Spanish: Linguistic, Psycholinguistic, and Neurolinguistic Evidence [Review].
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Bergen, J. J. (1980). The Semantics of Gender Contrasts in Spanish. Hispania, 63(1), 48-57.
https://doi.org/10.2307/340811
Bonnin, J. E., & Coronel, A. A. (2021). Attitudes Toward Gender-Neutral Spanish: Acceptability
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Ciria-Barreiro, E., Moreno-Maldonado, C., Rivera, F., & Moreno, C. (2021). A Comparative Study
of Health and Well-being Among Cisgender and Binary and Nonbinary Transgender
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Clegg, J. H. (2011). A Frequency-based Analysis of the Norms for Spanish Noun Gender. Hispania,
94(2), 303–319. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23032172
Gustafsson Sendén, M., Bäck, E. A., & Lindqvist, A. (2015). Introducing a gender-neutral pronoun
in a natural gender language: the influence of time on attitudes and behavior [Original
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Juilland, A., & Chang-Rodriguez, E. (2021). De Gruyter Mouton.
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Requirements Outline Project

Deadline: upload to Canvas discussion board before class during the third tutorial session in week 2
The outline is an elaboration on the research plan, which was written during Introduction to
Academic Skills II. The outline should demonstrate the progress that the groups have made
during the first week of the project by taking the feedback into account and by doing more
independent research and work on the project.
The outline should be refined and the reference list should have been expanded upon
through your systematic literature search as discussed in session 1.

Elements from the Research Plan which are no longer relevant should be removed from the
outline. The introduction should be rewritten so that it fits the paper: so the outline does
not need to contain schedules and/or deadlines anymore; it should really be a step towards
your research paper.

The outline should clearly state the research question and the thesis statement of the
paper. You should also explain why it is relevant to investigate your topic.

The outline should be informative. It should not merely state the elements which will be
included. For instance, instead of writing ‘there will be an argument’, you need to indicate
what the argument will entail and how it relates to your thesis statement.

The outline should include indications of the number of words required per section.
The use of bullet points is allowed in the outline, provided that you use full sentences.
You should explain how you will advance the reasoning behind your argument and how you
would use evidence to support your arguments. Make sure to clearly explain how the
elements of your arguments support/relate to your thesis statement. Moreover, you should
also show a critical engagement with the sources you use.
The outline should be supported with references. At the very least, the main sources which
you build your argument on should be incorporated in the outline in the form of in-text
references. Make sure to reference according to UCM guidelines. And, obviously, don’t
forget to add a reference list.
In your conclusion, you should provide a preliminary answer to your research question.
Evidently, this answer is subject to change as your investigation progresses.

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