Writing workshop in inclusive language
Literary writing game in inclusive language, which can be offered even for a few minutes, in all types of settings and for all ages.
Inclusive language is not a consensus at all. And yet, trying to practice it really makes you think about questions of domination, by destabilizing the habits that it arouses in everyone. Thus, proposing it as a literary game is a way to put movement out of any polemic. And it is indeed the object of an active feminism to advance equality, which is for the benefit of all, rather than to provoke tensions.
This game can be proposed in various ways. I propose, rather than a rule of the game, some axes that I think are productive to mobilize:
- The duration is free. It can be proposed, at the beginning of a meeting for example, for only five minutes. This is already a lot, and it will also have the effect of “breaking the ice”, as well as freeing and de-dramatizing the talk on the subject of feminism.
- You can propose to people not to “translate” a non-inclusive text into an inclusive one (which can be seen as academic and normative), but rather to propose to each person to write a short text on a known and shared subject, and then read it to each other. Some of them will have managed to get around the question by using non-gendered words, others will have searched a lot, others will not have done so... In short, the moment of reading will be a funny and playful moment. Joyful sharing is the best pedagogical dynamic.
- You can suggest that everyone does a search on the Internet and present to the others the different schools of inclusive language (because there is no consensus on how to practice it either) and to indicate what they think, allowing themselves to be critical. The interactions based on the opinions of each person, the possible controversies, will be much more educational than a professorial explanation, than a univocal expertise on the subject.
The idea is to propose a moment of creativity and then of sharing on inclusive language, very short or longer, allowing each person to have had a space to reflect on it, in his or her own way, and to have been able to receive the reflections of other people, in a horizontal way. This is conducive to constructing one’s own thoughts in a free way. Because it would be contradictory if feminism, whose object is to question systems of domination, were itself dictatorial and normative.
The practice of feminism seems to me to be an essential stake in the cultural actions, because the awareness of the systems of domination allows to go towards more equality, therefore to contribute to the democracy. The inequality between women and men is for me a cornerstone of the dominations that harm everyone.
But how to “put feminism into practice” concretely in public proposals? How can cultural actions, whatever their field of implementation (artistic, social, educational, professional...), arouse inner movements towards more respect of human rights? It is not a question of stating a normative feminist discourse, but of putting into practice an equality in the ways of acting. This is much more delicate and delicate to do than one might think, because it involves questioning one’s own unconscious functioning.
I share here some resources, partial, from my own pathways, practices and questionings: proposals and stories of cultural actions, working methods, methods of artistic creation and more conceptual or biographical reflections.
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Domination on Display: An Ethnological Analysis of the 51st César Ceremony
Eight years after Blanche Gardin, six years after Adèle Haenel, nothing has changed. The system has even strengthened itself.
The César ceremony is a ritual. Not an artistic ritual, but a social one, whose analysis reveals the mechanisms of domination at work in the (…) -
Patriarchal feminism
When emancipation can reproduce patterns of domination.
Surprisingly, certain forms of struggle against patriarchy can unintentionally reinforce the very structures they seek to combat, particularly (…) -
On systems of domination in the film industry
The reasons for the violence are not what you might think.
The film industry is built on deeply entrenched systems of domination. These hierarchical mechanisms legitimize violence, including sexist (…) -
Workshop immersive techniques for creating an exhibition
An account of a method for constructing a point of view and an exhibition.
Students in the Master 2 Audiovisual and Digital Media (AVMN) program at Grenoble University were asked to organize an exhibition on the theme of (…) -
A definition of feminism
A thought movement in dialogues.
Here is my definition of feminism, from my place as a man: it is for me a movement of thought and action for equal rights between women and men, (…) -
Podcast: “For a democratic and feminist pedagogy”
Dialogue between Noémie Rubat du Mérac and Benoît Labourdette on June 25, 2022.
Overview of the fundamentals of the pedagogical actions conceived and carried out by Benoît Labourdette, linked to the deconstruction of systems (…) -
Collective film shot in a movie theater
Creative participation method.
Giving a voice in a creative way to the spectators of a movie theater, before the screening of a film.I put this proposal into practice in the (…) -
Equality is not won!
A collective film (3’12s, 2022).
An intergenerational film to become more aware, and more equipped, to defend equality. -
Fragments of lives
A collective movie (3’20s, 2022).
By sharing all our views, even the most intimate ones, we become stronger! -
Putting yourself in the other person’s shoes
A collective film supervised by Benoît Labourdette (2’40s, 2021).
Collective empathy exercise. -
Women’s voices
Immersive digital device, designed by Manon Gady and Maïa Hoog.
Immersion in feminist demonstrations, in the word of women.Device conceived and realized by Manon Gady and Maïa Hoog, students of the class of (…) -
Writing workshop in inclusive language
Literary game.
Literary writing game in inclusive language, which can be offered even for a few minutes, in all types of settings and for all ages.Inclusive (…) -
Feminist Contemplation
Participatory art installation.
Words projected on the walls transform a simple place into a space that invites an intimate thought of feminism.Installation realized in (…) -
The feminine neutral
Speaking method.
Count the number of people present, and if there is a majority of women, suggest the game of using the “feminine neuter”: “all of us” instead of (…) -
In front of our eyes
Collective film (3’10s, 2021).
Behind every object, the patriarchyIt is a chain, a sequence shot: each person films an object and gives it life, through the voice, putting (…) -
Gisèle Halimi Feminist Film Festival - Ville des Lilas: “Female gaze” workshop
Film creation workshop, to decode the images.
Male gaze ? Female gaze? What is the difference? How do images place us in positions of domination or submission? In the lobby of the Garde-Chasse (…) -
What kind of world do we want?
A film by Benoît Labourdette (0’54s, muet, 2020).
Bibliography in 2020 for the emancipation of women and men. -
Audiovisual workshops to combat gender stereotypes
Methods for audiovisual creativity.
Thought-provoking ideas and proposals for audiovisual workshop concepts for nuanced and useful actions, with the aim of building critical thinking (…) -
Sexuality #01
A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’28s, 2020).
Sexuality, that intimate space that we experience as natural and spontaneous, is in fact largely constructed by our culture. For more sexual (…) -
Domination
Un film de Benoît Labourdette (1’26s, muet, 2017).
Rebattre les cartes des systèmes de domination.
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The feminine neutral Speaking method.
Count the number of people present, and if there is a majority of women, suggest the game of using the “feminine neuter”: “all of us” instead of (…) -
Screenwriting software Tools that format or emancipate us?
Script software standardizes page layout, automatically applies styles and numbering, and frees up time for creativity. From Final Draft to Celtx, (…) -
Women’s Film Festival in Créteil - Creation of a collective movie Pocket Films workshops for everyone
Making a collective movie by young people at the International Festival of Créteil Women’s Film.The International Festival of Créteil Women’s (…) -
Who uses artificial intelligence without knowing it? For a pedagogy of trust and connection in the age of AI.
The requirement for transparency about AI use, while based on good intentions, seems superficial to me. It misses the essential point: the value (…) -
Web seminar resources: “better communication on the web” A three-step journey to master the fundamentals of the web (Afnic Foundation, October 2025).
I led three webinars for the Afnic Foundation in October 2025. Three mornings to understand how to build an effective web presence, from SEO to (…)
