How language shapes society
Pascal Gygax investigates how language influences our perception of the world. He is particularly interested in the connection between language and gender-specific prejudices. Thanks to experiments, he was able to show that due to the way our brain works, a word in the masculine form is interpreted as purely ‘male’. This is true even if, according to the rules of standard language, women or non-binary people should theoretically be included. This has far-reaching social consequences, for example in the career choices of young girls, who feel less addressed by a masculine job title. As co-author of the book “Le cerveau pense-t-il au masculin? Cerveau, langage et représentations sexistes” (’Does the brain think masculine? Brain, language and sexist representations‘), he argues for a ’demasculinisation of language” ‒ and a more inclusive society.