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This paper proposes an overview and a thorough description of the theoretical and practical possibilities of “non-sexist” writing practices, which involve departures from the conventional use of nouns (and of their agreement targets). This overview shows a broad range of options, from traditional forms ( e.g. masculine or feminine forms used generically, lexically-related coordinates of different genders, gender-neutralising forms) to more or less innovative means (such as a number of abbreviating forms) or suggestions that are theoretically possible, but very unlikely ( e.g. profound alterations to the gender system, or even its total removal – solutions along the lines of English or Hungarian). The paper first lays out the binary (but not entirely balanced) system of French. It then describes the two sets of theoretical and practical possibilities that have been proposed (and used) to date. First, the joint use of the feminine and masculine genders ( e.g. through lexically-related coordinates of different genders), through which each gender is explicitly emphasized; secondly, the search for alternative forms, either to enrich the configuration of genders to be found in most Romance languages, or to bring down the gender system to a single form (or even a single gender), whether locally or on a broader scale.