Gender ideology and the “defense of the Portuguese language”

a feminist analysis on the suppression of the debate about neutral language in Santa Catarina

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2023/66145

Neutral language (non-binary language) and gender ideology issues have been highlighted
at the state of Santa Catarina after the decree 1.329/2021 which expressly prohibits
educational institutions and axamination boards from using gender inflection, especially
in written language form, wich, according the decree, would increase the number of
p2ortuguese words, against the grammatical rules of the language. In this context, this
article aims to study, from a feminist perspective, the movement to encourage the debate
on gender flexion and the articulation of discourses such as “gender ideology” and
“defense of the Portuguese language” in Santa Catarina, considering the tensions in the
field of politics and law. This qualitative approach, under an inductive method, use
monographic, theoretical and documentary research techniques, in which it is intended to answer the problem: how was the articulation of “gender ideology” and “defense of
the Portuguese language” guidelines in the approval of the decree that suppresses the
debate in Santa Catarina? From this analysis, which does not revolve the quality of neutral
language itself, it is concluded that the political and institutional action that faces the
debate on neutral language in the state does not have a democratic character.

Keywords: Law and politics; Gender ideology; Feminist studies; Neutral language; Santa
Catarina.