# sexisme--c'est pas mon genre



## SwissPete

My local paper recently had an article about the #MeToo movement in France. It includes a photograph of women holding signs. 
One sign says “Sexisme c’est pas mon genre”. The caption reads: Demonstrators hold placards reading “Sexism, that is not my gender” […]”.

The translation misses the play on words, but I am at a loss to find a translation that incorporates the pun.

Any ideas?

Merci.


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## Phil512

Hi Pete,
"...C'est pas mon *genre*" /... not my *gender"* includes the same pun, no ? I even find very good
Moi, j'aurais dit (sans le jeu de mot) :"...c'est pas mon truc, ..c'est pas mon style".
But maybe I did not understand your question very well.


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## ForeverHis

“Sexism, that is not my gender” is very strange in English and I can't imagine native speaker saying that in this context. "Sexism, isn't my thing" is what comes to mind, but obviously it doesn't have the play on words of the French. Maybe someone else can think of something more clever.


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## jekoh

Phil512 said:


> "...C'est pas mon *genre*" /... not my *gender"* includes the same pun, no ?


There is no pun in "not my gender".


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## Itisi

Sexisme - not for my sex    (Not very good, but then neither is the original...)


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## Enquiring Mind

_Sexism - not on my agender_?   (I don't think anyone would seek to translate this for any practical purpose and seek to reflect the pun. They'd have to explain it. But since we like playing with language here on WR ... Works better _à l'oral_ if you partly swallow the "a" in front "gender".)


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## tartopom

Sexism is not our cup of tea, girls.


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## Blougouz

Play on words:
Sexism: not my cup of tea/ not my gender.
The suggestion of Enquiring mind as "not on my agender" is really amazing!!! Go for it!


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## Uncle Bob

"agender" looks weird to me but perhaps "agenda" would not be understood.


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## Nicomon

Enquiring Mind said:


> _Sexism - not on my agender_?


  I like that!


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## Soleil_Couchant

blougouz, wait how is "a cup of tea" a play on words in this context?

"Sexism, not for me/not my thing" work in English, but, yes, lack a pun.

I wouldn't use "agender" for a real headline/translation because it doesn't make sense intrinsically, or, as in, without the pun implication of "agenda" (but yes, orally, I can see the joke). For puns to work, both meanings have to actually make sense.


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## Blougouz

Enquiring Mind said:


> _Sexism - not on my agender_ ... Works better _à l'oral_ if you partly swallow the "a" in front "gender".)


 and longer on the my!!!
High level, Enquiring Mind!!!

@Soleil couchant: crossed posts, sorry!
Ok, let's wait for an other pun... I keep searching as well...!


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## Nicomon

This one often comes on google :   *« Sexism? Not my type! »*


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## Soleil_Couchant

That certainly matches what it says in French, too. (still minus the pun, but, oh well)

oh and blougouz, no need to apologize! but thanks


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## Nicomon

It might be better to leave out the pun than coming up with something that doesn't sound right or clever.
_ 
Sexism? Not my style! _ is another one that comes often.
_Sexism is not sexy _is yet another, but it has nothing to do with the French.

So far, my vote still goes to Enquiring Mind's  :  _Sexism - not on my agender. _
I find that very clever, and immediately made the _agenda/(a)gender_ association.


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## Itisi

I don't see what the problem is with 'agender'... It's perfectly understandable as a pun...


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## Nicomon

Amen to that.  I agree entirely,  Itisi.


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## Soleil_Couchant

But Itisi, with a pun, both meanings have to make sense. I get the "not on my agenda" part....but the phrase "not on my agender" does not make any sense. That's all I was saying. That would be like saying "Not on my genderless"...it doesn't make sense. Or maybe you can explain it to me... What would that phrase actually mean?


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## ForeverHis

Enquiring Mind said:


> Sexism - not on my agender


  Very clever. I love it! Of course, _agender_ is just an amusing variant of _agenda_, SC. I know some people who mispronounce English like that.


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## Soleil_Couchant

But, how does "agender" the word itself make sense in that sentence? I obviously totally get the "agender" as a mispronunciation of _agenda_ half of the pun. But the other half ... means nothing. A pun supposed to work two ways... that's what makes it a pun. Maybe my hangup is people calling it a pun.


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## L'irlandais

When it comes to a play on words like  “Sexisme c’est pas mon *genre*” we may have to accept, that this time it is lost in translation.  Sometimes, a clever translator can find a workaround, but it is not always posssible.  Personally the Op’s attempt «Sexism, that is not my gender » works for me.  Though unusal in English it does convey half the message.
The misprounciation of agenda seems a bit stretched in UK English.  Depends on the target audience, I suppose.  Another thought is this, although asexual is not a gender identity, for me the use of agender could simply lead to confusion.  People may think you are creating a new word, which does happen occasionally.

 Given the context of domestic violence in France, perhaps the overriding message is the results are more often tragic for women than for men. Source:  En 2016, 123 femmes ont été tuées par leur compagnon ou leur ex


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## Itisi

If you take 'sexisme, c'est pas mon genre', there is only one meaning that works in the supposed double meaning.  Nobody seems to be bothered... It's not a particularly good pun, actually. Puns are like that, it's not a problem!  Puns don't have to be grammatically correct... To me, 'Sexisme is not on my agender' works fine as a pun, and I would even say it's better than the original!


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## Soleil_Couchant

"Not my gender" and "Not my type" (as conveyed by the French) are phrases that both make sense. Introducing the new idea of people who identify as "agender" just to have a sort of play on sounds with the phrase "not on my agenda" could indeed bring confusion, like Irlandais said, and is actually not a pun (puns by definition are phrases that have two meanings using the same word, and here, only one way of reading it has meaning). I do agree that the play on words might not be possible in English, which is what SwissPete was stuck on.

Edit: the point is, puns by definition play on double meanings, and "not on my agender" only has one possible meaning (not to mention, it's the one that relies on an incorrect spelling).


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## Itisi

Definition of *pun*: "A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word *and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words." 
*
Four of us on the thread had no trouble understanding *EM*'s suggestionit and found it funny... Some are concerned about_ other people_ not understanding it, although_ they _did!

I'll say it again, the original is not as good or clever...


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## Soleil_Couchant

pointvirgule said:


> Yes, you've said it three times already! But the original is actually quite clever, for those who understand it. And it's not meant to be funny.



Agree with this point, too. The "agen-durr" American (or sometimes UK) accent joke brings a note of frivolity to a serious matter that bothers me, too.


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## Itisi

If one wishes to avoid frivolity,  then one shouldn't make plays on words in the first place!  You seem to lose sight  of the fact that humour is a great weapon and has always been used in conflicts.  What about, for example, Charlie Chaplin impersonating Hitler in The Great Dictator!  Is that too frivolous?


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## Nicomon

Here I thought that the slogan - the original is plural - had to do with work equity (à travail égal, salaire égal) and gender equality (against stereotypes) in general.


> Mais le label "_Sexisme, pas notre genre_ !" encourage aussi en grande partie les associations et les entreprises qui agissent contre les inégalités professionnelles grâce au titre spécial "Entreprises engagées".  Source


 Hence my liking EM's clever suggestion, _agenda + gender = agender._

If you include in it sexual assault, harrassment, domestic violence, etc... that's another story. But still, I agree with Itisi that humour is a great weapon.
Have a look at the drawings in these google images among which this one.




That said, I also agree that if a pun can't work in the other language, you have to accept that it gets lost in translation.
In which case the closest option in my non native opinion  is : _... not my type! _ Sorry, I don't like :_... not my gender!_


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## Soleil_Couchant

Nicomon, you could be right about the equality/pay thing with this woman's sign (in the first post..since yes, from what you found, this does seem to be a common slogan), but just as a note, "MeToo" (at least as it started in America) refers specifically to women having endured sexual assault/harassment/even rape, which is what led us down that path (this was an article on MeToo in France).


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## Nicomon

Of course I know all about "MeToo", S_C, and also remember that thread : Balance ton porc !

I must admit that I totally missed that specification in SwissPete's initial post. 

I was just paying attention to the slogan, as I personally make a difference between _sexism_ and _sexual assault/harassment/rape._
In my mind - and I don't expect everyone to agree with me - the latter rhymes more with _violence _than_ sexisme. _


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## broglet

'sexism is not on my agender' only works when spoken with an American accent  (if it works at all, and I rather agree with Soleil that it doesn't). 

If written on a placard it would simply look like a failed attempt at humour.


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## Nicomon

As read googling : 





> The “Women and feminism workshops” organized in Nantes with support from Wikimedia France were also awarded the French label “_sexisme pas notre genre_” (a play-on-words meaning both “sexism is not our gender” and “sexism? We would never do that”).


 It's the latter part that could be loosely rendered as _not on our agenda. _ Or in this case,_ my agenda,_ since _notre_ was changed to_ mon. 
_I understood all along that changing _agenda _to_ agender_ was just a mix of both (_agenda + gender_), with or without an American accent.
Some read it as  "failed attempt at humour" and I read it as clever.

I can't help it... "sexism is not my gender" sounds very awkward to my ears.  So if EM's suggestion doesn't work, I'm back to :
... _not my type_ which encompasses _style_ (I think) + combines :


> A category of people or things having common characteristics.
> *one's type :  *informal The sort of person one likes or finds attractive.


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## xaipete

Instead of spelling it "agender", what about "Sexism? Not on my... uh... gender!"


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## Soleil_Couchant

broglet, yes!

And xaipete, yes, that's a sentence that actually makes sense both ways. But there's got to be something else that could work. Hmm.


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## L'irlandais

Nicomon said:


> ...
> Some read it as  "failed attempt at humour" and I read it as clever.


Nice find that googled text.  In the context, it is a strong message, « Women are not the ones doing this killing. » using humour (successfully or otherwise) will water down the message, surely?
In the context of the OP, ie. the number of women killed by domestic violence in France during 2016, I can understand why the journalist of the original article didn’t attempt a translation of the written elements which were to be seen in the photo.  I am not sure it is very clever to introduce some humour, it could be taken as morbid.  I guess we will have to agree to disagree, about this.

It’s not really about what we each think of the original text, is it?  It is very much about faithfully rendering the meaning of the text into English, if at all possible.  For me it is wrong to try and improve on the Source text when translating.


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## broglet

Nicomon said:


> the closest option in my non native opinion  is : _... not my type! _ Sorry, I don't like :_... not my gender!_


No - "not my _type_" only refers to a person -  here a more correct translation would be " ... not my _thing_"


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## Nicomon

Sexism :


> noun: *sexism*
> prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex.
> synonymes : sexual discrimination, chauvinism, gender prejudice, gender bias
> "your hiring practices have generated numerous complaints about sexism"


 Clearly, I don't understand the French version the same way as everyone.  Once again, I don't equate sexism with domestic violence.

And I can't help it if I dislike the sound of "_Sexism - not my gender_".
@ broglet : I honestly thought that "_Sexism - not my type_" was a happy middle,  since _not my *thing*_ would really be _pas mon* truc*_*.*


> ItCounts is now a certified initiative. The action plan against sexism : “*Sexisme? Pas mon genre!*” invites all the citizens to act and react by proposing initiatives that push sexism.
> ItCounts has been accredited by the Ministerial campaign «* Sexism? Not my type! *» initiated by the Ministry of Children, Families and Women's Rights.


 *Source
*


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## L'irlandais

Only the context is a manif against the high number of deaths by domestic violence, where one of the protesters carries this slogan.  You may have a point, but in the context of this discussion, the equation is made for us. I am quite sure the slogan is more widely used, but that was not SwissPete’s question.


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## Nicomon

I know the context was a manif l'Irlandais.  The caption reads : 





> FILE - In this Oct. 29, 2017 file photo, demonstrators hold placards reading "Sexism, that is not my gender" and "125 women killed in 2016", right, during a demonstration against sexual abuse and harassment across the country under the #MeToo movement, in Marseille, southern France. Perhaps no country has had more complex reaction to #MeToo than France - long identified as a haven for romance. The government is preparing new legislation on sexual violence and harassment, and some lawmakers want to impose fines for sexist catcalls. Yet despite sexual misconduct allegations against several prominent men,


  If memory serves, the French #MeToo movement was  #Balance ton porc.   See link in #29.

So yes, we can leave out the _agender_ pun - which I still find very clever for the initial context of the  _Sexisme - pas notre genre!_ initiative.
But that won't make me like the literal "_that is not my gender_" more.  Round and round we go.   What am I still doing on this thread ?


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## SwissPete

Merci de tous vos commentaires et suggestions.
Lots of good ideas.


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