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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UMKC chapter.

A common trend today, to make words more inclusive of gender, is to use an “x” to replace the vowel (or letters) that would make the word refer to women or men. In languages where this is a commonality like Spanish, it makes sense. (But as a non-Spanish speaker, I’m not going to endorse the usage of “x” in gendered words. I’ll allow a native-Spanish speaker to be the judge on how to make Spanish words gender-neutral.) When it comes to English though, this makes less sense. English words, in general, are pretty gender-neutral and gender-inclusive, except words that are meant to describe gender(s) of course.

I have come across a myriad of people who like to use the term “womxn” to describe people who are not men. This group includes women, both cis and trans, as well as non-binary people. As someone who is a feminine non-binary person, I honestly get very annoyed when I am called a “womxn.” You can’t de-gender a term that is literally a gender, especially used to describe those of us who are typically ID’d as “women.” This term feeds back into feminine non-binary people actually being “women” and it doesn’t feel inclusive of non-binary people who are masculine or pass as men. If you want to refer to a group of people and don’t want to include men, saying “non-men” or even just saying “women and non-binary people” is perfectly fine.

two women in hijabs reading
Photo by Gabby K from Pexels
This also leads to our discussion of “folx.” I know that some people may use this as a way to be gender-inclusive since that is what the “x” in words has turned into but, “folks” is already gender-neutral and gender-inclusive. Looking at the excessive use of “x” in words that are either already gender-neutral and gender-inclusive or words that describe gender and couldn’t possibly become gender-neutral or gender-inclusive feels performative and takes away from the validity of the use of “x.” I could be misinterpreting it and it could be that the greater population just use it as a shorter way of writing “folks” and that only a minority use it to be “gender-inclusive.”

I do want to emphasize that this is my opinion on this and that other gender-diverse people may disagree and that’s okay. Gender-diverse people are not a monolith and we’ll have different opinions on different things. It’s always important to ask if someone is comfortable with something rather than just assuming because someone else said something, so make sure to ask the gender-diverse people around you what they’re comfortable with and follow that.

 

Mahreen is currently a senior studying Political Science, International Relations and Pre Law. In her free time she enjoys reading books about politics and watching foreign films. She is passionate about helping people, social justice and self care.
Krit graduated with English and Chemistry degrees from UMKC. As the President and founder of UMKC’s chapter, she hopes HC UMKC will continue to create content that inspires students. Some of her favorite things include coffee and writing.