Womxn

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The term womxn is an alternative spelling of the English word woman. Womxn, along with the term womyn, has been found in writing since the 1970s to avoid perceived sexism in the standard spelling, which contains the word man.[1]

The term "womxn" has been adopted by various organizations, including student university groups in the US and UK, who call it more inclusive of

transphobic implication that trans women are not women but are a separate category (womxn).[8][9]

Etymology

The word woman is derived from the

Late Middle English period, replacing the now-obsolete word wer.[12] This has created the present situation with man bearing a dual meaning—either masculine or nonspecific.[13]

alternative political spellings of the word woman, such as womyn.[14] Keridwen Luis, a sociologist at Brandeis University, states that feminists have experimented for decades to devise a suitable alternative for the term identifying the female gender. Such terms have included wimmin (in the 1990s), based upon the original Old English term, and womyn (since at least 1975).[15][16][17]

Definition

Dictionary.com, which added womxn to its dictionary in 2019,[18] defines womxn as "used, especially in intersectional feminism, as an alternative spelling to avoid the suggestion of sexism perceived in the sequences m-a-n and m-e-n, and to be inclusive of trans and nonbinary women."[2] The Oxford English Dictionary added womxn in 2021, and defines it as "adopted by some as a more inclusive alternative to womyn, which is perceived as marginalizing certain groups, especially ethnic minority and transgender women."[19]

In 2017, The Boston Globe called the term "a powerful, increasingly popular label, encompassing a broader range of gender identities than 'woman'—or even older feminist terms such as 'womyn' ... a nontraditional spelling for people whose gender identity doesn’t fit in the traditional boxes".[15] In 2018, Jennie Kermode, chair of Trans Media Watch, stated that the organization would not use the term, considering that women already includes trans women.[20] In a 2019 Styles article published in The New York Times, journalist Breena Kerr stated that while womxn was difficult to pronounce, it was "perhaps the most inclusive word yet",[16] using a similar approach to the term "Latinx". Sociologist Nita Harker praised the term's ambiguity in pronunciation, saying that it forces users to "stop and think".[15]

Current uses

Womxn's March on Seattle, 2018

In 2017, the

missing and murdered indigenous girls, women, and transgender people.[21]

In October 2019, the Wellcome Collection, a museum and library in London, made an announcement through Twitter using the term to demonstrate their goal of including diverse perspectives; after complaints from hundreds of followers, the museum later apologized and removed the term from its website.[16][22] Labour Party politician Jess Phillips responded to the incident by saying, "I've never met a trans woman who was offended by the word woman being used, so I'm not sure why this keeps happening".[20] Clara Bradbury-Rance of King's College London conjectured that the push-back was because the use of the term was seen as too simplistic and a "fix-all".[20]

On March 1, 2021, the

transphobic for implying that trans women are not women but a separate category (womxn). Twitch removed the tweet and apologised, stating that they wanted to use the word to acknowledge the shortcomings of gender-binary language and that they would use the term "women" moving forward.[8][9]

See also

References

Look up womxn in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  1. ISBN 978-0205158805
    .
  2. ^ a b "Definition of womxn". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  3. ^ Guy, Jack. "Women or 'womxn'? Students adopt inclusive language". CNN. CNN. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  4. ^ Lencki, Maria (10 January 2019). "'Woman,' 'womxn' or 'womyn': Campus feminist groups opt for alternative spelling". The College Fix. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  5. ^ Topping, Alexandra (10 October 2018). "Wellcome Collection excoriated over use of term 'womxn.'". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  6. ^ Wharton, Jane (27 November 2018). "Students replace word women with womxn because term 'men' is offensive". Metro. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  7. ISBN 9783030200015
    ), page 12
  8. ^ a b "Twitch backtracks after outcry for using 'gender neutral' term 'womxn'". BBC. March 2, 2021. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  9. ^ a b Kelleher, Patrick (March 2, 2021). "Twitch apologises for using the word 'womxn': 'We're still learning'". PinkNews. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  10. ISBN 978-0205158805
    . (for derivation of 'woman' from 'man')
  11. Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
    (Oxford, 1966) p. 1011
  12. ^ Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College Edition, entry for "woman".
  13. ^ Merriam Webster, entry for "man".
  14. ^ D. Hatton. "Womyn and the 'L': A Study of the Relationship between Communication Apprehension, Gender, and Bulletin Boards" (abstract), Education Resources Information Center, 1995.
  15. ^ a b c Peters, Mark (9 May 2017). "Womyn, wimmin, and other folx". Boston Globe. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  16. ^ a b c d Kerr, Breena (14 March 2019). "What Do Womxn Want?". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  17. ^ Luis, Keridwen (2020). "Keridwyn Luis". Brandeis University. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  18. ^ Spector, Nicole (8 April 2019). "'Male gaze', 'imposter syndrome' and 'womxn' among Dictionary.com's new words of 2019". NBC News. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  19. ^ "womxn, n." OED Online. March 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  20. ^ a b c Regan, Alex (2018-10-10). "Should women be spelt womxn?". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  21. ^ Buck, Kate (11 October 2018). "Why are people getting so angry at changing the spelling of 'woman' to 'womxn'?". Metro.uk. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  22. ^ Guy, Jack (27 November 2018). "Women or 'womxn'? Students adopt inclusive language". CNN. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
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