Womxn

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 trans and nonbinary people than women and other alternative spellings.[2][3][4] Conversely, it has been criticized for being unnecessary or confusing, conflicting with the uncommonness of mxn to describe men.[5][6][7] The use of womxn as a gender-inclusive alternative to woman has also been criticized for having the perceived transphobic implication that trans women are not women but are a separate category (womxn).[8][9]

  1. ^ Scupin, Raymond (2012). Cultural anthropology: a global perspective (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson. p. 96. ISBN 978-0205158805.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference dictionary was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  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. ^ J. M. J. Marvuso et al, "Overcoming Essentialism in Community Psychology", in Floretta Boonzaier, Taryn van Niekerk (eds.), Decolonial Feminist Community Psychology (2019, Springer, ISBN 9783030200015), page 12
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBCTwitch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference KelleherPN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).