The new setting will enable the site to speak to users using feminine grammar – as part of an inclusion and diversity drive, according to Twitter’s announcement on Tuesday.
In Arabic, verbs agree with the gender of their subject. Masculine forms are used to address mixed or unknown audiences and are the default in most texts.
Those who use the setting will be addressed in the feminine form – reportedly the first social media site to offer this option. Twitter did not introduce a non-binary gender language option in Arabic but their head of communications for the Middle East and North Africa said the company has other gender-neutral projects it is working on – including a designated pronoun field.
“We want our service to reflect the voices that shape the conversations that take place on our service,” said Rasha Fawakhiri, Twitter’s communications head for the Middle East and North Africa.
Twitter started with Arabic and the initiative could be expanded to other languages, Fawakhiri said
Twitter says it is the first social media site to introduce an “Arabic (feminine)” language option.
Forsided, 15.06.2021
Source: Reuters