University students are now using the word womxn instead of woman, because, according to them, it is offensive to include the word man.
In a bid to be more inclusive, three London universities are now referring to females with the new word womxn. Students at Goldsmiths, University of London, and King’s College London are known to have recently made changes.
At Goldsmiths, the Student Union has stopped using the words women and woman in publications, instead, they use the term womxn. They say it is more inclusive to those who identify as transgender.
On Facebook, the schools’ Student Union no longer use “women”. Their posts feature words like “womxn’s yoga” and “womxn’s events”. King’s College now refer to their women physics club as “KCL Womxn in Physics” club.
The word has also been included in the Urban Dictionary. It describes the term womxn as:
a spelling of “women” that is a more progressive term that not only sheds light on the prejudice, discrimination, and institutional barriers womxn have faced, but to also show that womxn are not the extension of men (as hinted by the classic Bible story of ) but their own free and separate entities. More intersectional than because it includes trans-women and women of colour.
In the 1970s, the word “womyn” was used to delete the term man and the theory that Eve came from the body of Adam in the Bible. However that proved controversial because it was seen as being associated with white, cisgender feminism.
Many people have complained about the word “womxn” and, adding that they do not know how to say it.
Back in October, the Wellcome Institute apologised after advertising a four-day event aimed at “womxn”. But Goldsmiths has no plan to stop using “womxn”.
A spokeswoman for the Goldsmiths Student Union said:
Womxn is used to demonstrate our commitment to inclusiveness. No student has complained about its use.
The universities and the unions are separately governed and the universities say they have no plans to scrap the words.