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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

does everybody hate the term womxn? Or is it just me?

129 replies

Gone2far · 19/10/2019 09:04

The Guardian usually provides me with a shot of instant rage, and, reliable as ever, the front page of the review (my dh's) had the words 'what a time to be a black, british, womxn writer'.
Does anyone else feel , like, a big 'fuck off' when they read that?

OP posts:
Karabair · 19/10/2019 19:50

I had a look on Twitter and it does appear that there are black women using the term "womxn" about themselves.

There are also plenty of black women who aren't:

twitter.com/search?q=black%20women&src=typed_query&f=user

Black feminist's criticisms of racism in white feminism are well-made, well-founded and ongoing unfortnately. For MTF trans to jump on these women's struggle in order to identify themselves into the woman box looks a lot like appropriation to me.

Tarkus · 19/10/2019 20:15

The word "women" does not exclude any women. The word "wowxn" does.

I find it far more pointless than "cis". I would not engage with anyone who used it.

Fraggling · 20/10/2019 14:10

'Black feminist's criticisms of racism in white feminism are well-made, well-founded and ongoing unfortnately. For MTF trans to jump on these women's struggle in order to identify themselves into the woman box looks a lot like appropriation to me.'

This.
I also find this sidetrack very white /western centric.
Are women in India and namibia and all the other countries of the world where white is minority in terms on numbers, to give up the word woman, because some women in majority white counties have felt (quite reasonably from what I can see) excluded/ invisible from their country's feminism movements?

These claims just open up even more iffy underlying attitudes than were even there in the first place.

No women in the uk in 2019 think that the word woman only applies to some cunty women, and that women who are other sorts aren't women??? I mean come off it.

Fraggling · 20/10/2019 14:16

I mean other sorts of cunty women obv.

This can equally be applied to other women who feel they have little voice in feminism and elsewhere ie women who are poor, disabled, in criminal justice system etc.

For people with dicks to align themselves with these genuinely under represented women is a piss take. Their problems may be real (although many tra don't seem to be having a particularly tricky time, being on telly a lot, winning women's sports competitions, prizes, awards) but they are not the same as the problems women have. They are rooted in homophobia. The natural allies of trans women are gay men. These people have little in common with women. And our struggles are different. Some prominent tras are actively anti abortion for eg. So progressive. So much empathy with women.

Tarkus · 20/10/2019 14:25

I also find this sidetrack very white /western centric.
Are women in India and namibia and all the other countries of the world where white is minority in terms on numbers, to give up the word woman, because some women in majority white counties have felt (quite reasonably from what I can see) excluded/ invisible from their country's feminism movements?

Good point. Evaristo justifies the word because

using ‘womxn’ to explicitly include and centre self-identified women who are trans, black, and of colour

So are "womxn" exclusively black women?

Are other ethnicities which are not white and not Black "women" or "womxn"

What about white ethnic minority groups who rank low on socioeconomic terms? Are they "women" or "womexn"

Evaristo's mother was a white English teacher. Evaristo attended a grammar school and has spent her entire adult working life in the world of liberal arts and media and liberal academe. I wonder how much intersectionality she understands in relation to disadvantaged socioeconomic groups? Are the women and girls whose lives are made hell in places like Leeds Holbeck "women" or "womxn"?

Tarkus · 20/10/2019 14:46

I see women "of colour" can be "womxn"

The practice of making a distinction between black and rolling up every other ethnicity which isn't white European as "of colour" has always seemed to me a bit insulting to the "of colour" group.

vesuvia · 20/10/2019 17:04

According to the Womxn in Physics group at Kings College London, "womxn" is pronounced the same as "women".
see: www.kclwomxninphysics.com/faq

Tarkus · 20/10/2019 17:13

Womxn is a more inclusive term which promotes intersectionality and notincludescis women, but also trans women and femme/feminine-identifying genderqueer and non-binary folk

They might be brilliant at physics- pity about the grammar. I assume the above is supposed to read:-

Womxn is amore inclusive term which promotes intersectionality and notonly includescis women, but also trans women and femme/feminine-identifying genderqueer and non-binary folk

but who knows. Whoever it is including, it isn't including me.

vesuvia · 20/10/2019 17:14

If womxn is supposed to be alternative to women, is there also a related allegedly more inclusive alternative for woman? Confused

Womun, perhaps?

flowery · 20/10/2019 17:20

If it’s pronounced the same, then it’s pointless unless used in writing, surely, as context wouldn’t be enough for the listener to determine whether the speaker was saying womxn or women.

Voice0fReason · 20/10/2019 20:03

Whenever I see the word "womxn" I know that it isn't referring to me because I am a woman.

hamstersaremyfriends · 20/10/2019 20:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ArnoldWhatshisknickers · 20/10/2019 20:41

According to the Womxn in Physics group at Kings College London, "womxn" is pronounced the same as "women".

According to my mum who gained a first class honours degree in physics in the 1960s, who taught herself A-level physics because her most selective of girls grammar schools in London didn't 'believe' physics was for girls, who holds a masters degree in solid state physics, who as the first women head of a physics department in any Scottish school, whose school routinely gained the best physics results in the land under her leadership, who literally (and I mean that in the old fashioned sense of literal) wrote the book on Standard Grade, Higher, Nat 5 physics and who never uses the word 'fuck'- "The 'womxn' in Physics group can fuck right off, they are misogynistic arseholes."

My mum is the most placid woman on Earth, She's sick of this shite.

BarbaraStrozzi · 20/10/2019 20:42

Arnold, as one woman physicist to another, your mum rocks. And she is right.

BarbaraStrozzi · 20/10/2019 20:45

Now I've had a chance to look at the page, it's a big "fuck right off" from me too.

Seriously. Do these fucking pillocks not realise how hard it was for women (spelled "women") in my generation and above to be taken seriously as scientists?

testing987654321 · 20/10/2019 21:23

Another physics graduate here. They can fuck off from me too. Fucks sake, scientists pride themselves on logical thinking and always trying to find "the truth" of how things work.

Durgasarrow · 21/10/2019 04:12

I fuxkxn hate it

2BthatUnnoticed · 21/10/2019 07:55

None of the Black women I know use it - seems a bit weird and pretentious to me.

however if a group of Black (or any other) women DID choose to use it, then I respect their right to.

Other women have agency and can do things we might not choose to.

MotherOfSoupDragons · 21/10/2019 07:56

Never seen it before and hate it already.

Fraggling · 21/10/2019 08:45

Another physics graduate here who agrees they can go fuck themselves.

BlouseAndSkirt · 21/10/2019 08:58

I just searched ‘womxn’ on Twitter, and the list of accounts seem to represent the arts, several American accounts and Black Women’s interest / networking.

Some are around women and class. Poetry, gardening etc.

Non seem populated by TRAs.

It isn’t a word I use but if other groups have their reasons they have, as a pp said, agency.

EmpressLesbianInChair · 21/10/2019 09:13

to describe women of colour? Which colour is that- a faint tan, women with rosacea? Or is it that real women are only blue eyed and blonde haired so the rest of us need a new definition; the ‘let’s pretend we’re women’ group

That reminds me of the litany about ‘BAME women, disabled women, trans women...’, the implication that having a penis is on a level with having a disability or not being white. Massively insulting to BAME & disabled women.

sportinguista · 21/10/2019 09:15

I get emails from Nottm Contemporary as I signed up to them. I just kept flagging to them that they had spelt women wrong and suggested that they needed to proof better and that Grammarly was a massive help and that they just simply wouldn't want to send out emails with things spelt wrong now, would they? I can do that sort of thing all day...

Yes, it annoys me, but turning it back on them amuses me hugely too and they did correct the website. They likely think not her again, but then the Microsoft scammers do too!

WrathofSIxFootSIxElfKlop · 21/10/2019 09:25

sporting
Good work, in a previous life I would've ignored all these made up words.
Not anymore.

Arnold
Your mum sounds amazing.

High fives to all the female physicists.

HorseWithNoFucksToGive · 21/10/2019 10:00

It's utter fucking bollx..