Inclusive Communication: Why Do We Care?

It is not easy to answer this question, it is never easy to answer questions that touch on strong, potentially divisive themes, perhaps precisely those themes that you feel so rooted and strong inside you. Hegel said: what is known is not known . The meaning is precisely this, when you take something for granted you cannot give a rational explanation for it. It is simply obvious!

Even though we think it is obvious that inclusive communication is needed, let's now put our thoughts in order and try to explain why.

We care a lot about inclusive communication because we believe it helps make the world a more hospitable and kinder place. We think that different people exist and we believe that each of them deserves to be respected and recognized. Respect comes through representations, tones and words. Let's focus on the words: if I say " Here, she's here! " it's very different from " Here, Sara's here !"

In the first case, Sara will perhaps feel out of place and unwanted, in the second case welcomed, recognized, called by name.

Speaking to others with respect is, quite simply, a matter of education. And being polite - they teach us this in kindergarten! - means not excluding anyone and inviting others to play with us. This is why the email welcoming you to Giuzi's newsletter does not open with "Welcome! You are now subscribed to our newsletter!" but with " Hey, hello! How nice to see you! " and again "We are happy you are here".

Our community is mostly female, so why not speak exclusively in the feminine? Because a boy or a person who is changing sex could also use our content. Excluding this possibility means ignoring the fact that there are people with different tastes and feelings than ours . It means, without beating around the bush, denying the evidence. As banal as this speech may sound to educated ears, it is not a given to make this lexical choice and it is not a given to promote it.

Inclusivity and gender equality are not - yet - a common and shared sensibility, certainly not in provincial environments. But we have to start somewhere and slowly, everyone doing their part, something will change.

It is comforting to know that we are not the only ones who think this way, indeed, we learn and are nourished by what people more capable than us have done, written and thought. For example, did you know that Zanichelli published its decalogue for designing and writing inclusive textbooks ? Well, Zanichelli, not just any online jewelry shop.

To avoid distinctions of gender, religion, ethnicity, political belief, we must bypass words and change language. We need linguistic skills and continuous training, which no advertiser, writer, marketer or visual designer should avoid in order to avoid slips.

We leave you here a long list of bullet points of the sources that have inspired and educated us: