actor
Dieter Hallervorden: For him, gender is an “artificial, politically motivated intervention”
Dieter Hallervorden doesn’t like gender
© Gerald Matzka / Picture Alliance
Dieter Hallervorden is not a fan of gender, he has already revealed that many times. Now the actor has criticized inclusive language again.
Inclusive language has, it seems, sparked more discussion in recent months than topics that most people would arguably consider far more relevant. Dieter Hallervorden was also angry about gender. In a conversation with the printed Berlin newspaper “Tagesspiegel”, the actor expressed his rejection again.
Dieter Hallervorden criticizes gender
“I really don’t have to be raised to be sensitive,” emphasized the 86-year-old. The subject does not upset him “absolutely, I rather take the liberty of discussing it objectively,” said Hallervorden. The actor seemed indignant when asked about the inclusive language. “How does a politically motivated minority come to want to dictate to a majority how we have to express ourselves in the future? The German language as a cultural asset belongs to all of us. Nobody has the right to tamper with it,” he recently told the Berliner Morgenpost.
For him, gendering is an order from above, but not an organically grown result. It is an “artificial, politically motivated intervention in grown language structures”. In addition, there is no scientific evidence that the language change would trigger a social rethink, he noted.
Hallervorden is grossly wrong with this. Hallervorden did not comment on the numerous studies that say the opposite and show that inclusive language promotes tolerance and reduces gender stereotypes. You can find examples of this here and here.
“Belongs to all of us”
For Hallervorden, what counts is “your own opinion, which you form independently and based on personal convictions”. He has been committed to minorities for years, he said. A few days ago he had explained to the Berliner Morgenpost that he no longer knew “which verbal slalom I have to go through in order to skilfully circle all the faux pas”.
“Language develops by itself, but not under pressure from above. Gender is – as a wise old man like Joachim Gauck said – ‘supervised speaking'”, says Hallervorden.
sources: “Tagesspiegel” / “Morning Mail”