Controversy surrounding the term "womxn"
Monday, Mar. 1, Amazon-owned Twitch, a live-streaming service used primarily for gaming, posted on Twitter, “Join us in celebrating and supporting all the Womxn creating their own worlds, building their communities, and leading the way on Twitch.” The Tweet was deleted soon after due to heightened controversy over the term “womxn.”
The term “womxn” is defined as “a woman (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 non-binary women).” It has been an empowering term for a number of black feminist organizations and transgender people who fought long and hard to be considered the gender they are.
The term can be traced back to a New York Times article published Mar. 14, 2019, by Breena Kerr, titled “What Do Womxn Want?” After the election of Donald J. Trump in 2016, Seattle feminists decided to use “womxn” for their march. Detroit and Portland followed their lead.
Ebony Miranda, a non-binary organizer of the Womxn’s March Seattle, proposed the term to refer to, “women and those affected by misogyny, or women-related issues.” The conclusion then was that “womxn” was an inclusive and genderless term similar to “Latinx,” which holds its own controversy.
The trans and non-binary communities were angered by Twitch’s use of the term “womxn” for many reasons, however. The first and foremost being the term’s use by trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or TERFs. Some have argued that the term suggests that intersex people (those whose “bodies that fall outside the strict male/female binary”) are not women; others assert that the term “implies [that] trans women aren't real women and [that] non-binary people are women.”
Twitch issued a public apology on Mar. 2, stating, “While we originally wanted to use a word that acknowledges the shortcoming of gender-binary language, after hearing directly from you, including members of the LGBTQIA+ community on Twitch, we will be using the spelling ‘women’ moving forward.”
“We’re still learning,” the streaming service stated, “Our good intentions don't always equate to positive impact, but we're committed to growing from these experiences, doing better, and ensuring we're inclusive to all.”
