Masculine, feminine or neutral? Translation practice and gender issues

Abstract

Translation activity has existed since the dawn of civilization and, in this practice, translators have always faced adverse situations in the field of decision-making. The choices made by these professionals, whether when translating simple texts or during the production of versions of official documents, are fundamental in the processes of human communication. With the rise of social movements that emerged from the 1960s onwards, which roughly challenge the binary perspective of human sexuality, the translator faces mishaps regarding the translation of gendered-related denominations into languages. We assume that, in many languages ”“ like Portuguese ”“, biological sex does not base the scope of gender as a linguistic category, while, in others ”“ such as English ”“, sex is a predominant factor in its marking. In this context, the present article aims at raising points of view on the difficulties in the translation of texts from English to Portuguese (or vice versa) regarding gender issues. Using an exploratory-comparative methodology and a theoretical framework based on translation and gender-related theories, we hope that this article will provide support for those who embark on the challenges of translation practice.