The Milei Government prohibits inclusive language in the Argentine administration due to its use as "political business"

The Government of Javier Milei will prohibit inclusive language and the gender perspective in the national public administration. This measure had already been recently taken by the Ministry of Defense in the military sphere due to its use as “political business.” “The language that covers all sectors is Spanish and it is a debate in which we are not going to participate,” explained the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni.

Once it becomes official, no public administration document may contain the use of the vowel 'e' or the symbols 'x' and '@' to express gender indeterminacy, as well as the “unnecessary inclusion of the feminine” in plural subjects, Adorni added.

The Defense portfolio, headed by Luis Petri, former presidential candidate, established the mandatory nature of the Spanish language, in accordance with the rules of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) and the regulations and manuals in force in the Armed Forces. “The objective is to eliminate incorrect forms of language that can generate an erroneous interpretation of what is desired, affecting the execution of orders and the development of military operations,” the Ministry said in a statement.

The RAE calls it “unnecessary”

Cultural institutions dedicated to linguistic regularization have discussed the use of this language on multiple occasions.. In the case of Spanish speakers, the RAE specified in its report on inclusive language and related issues, published in 2020, that the use of symbols is “unnecessary.” “The use of the @ or the letters 'e' and 'x' as supposed inclusive gender marks is foreign to the morphology of Spanish, since the grammatical masculine already fulfills that function as an unmarked term of gender opposition,” the document indicated.

For the Academy, sexism and misogyny are not properties of the language and are not inherent to the system, but are values that “acquire in use due to the intentionality of the speakers or their ideological prejudices.” “They are not the responsibility of the medium, but of the speakers. They are not corrected by improving grammar, but by eradicating cultural prejudices through education,” the report noted.