this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2024
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Look, if someone wants to identify as latinx, I'm not going to stop them, and I will use that term in reference to them, no problem.
If the term was, as you say, invented by gay latinx math nerds in chat rooms then sure, it works for them on internet chatrooms or in the real.
There does seem to be significant contention as to where and how the term arose, as well as its usage, and that's from LGTBQ writers, activists and academics.
Some are for it, some are against it, and its not just because of machismo. I'm seeing a whole bunch of articles from a quick search of people writing arguments against latinx from differing perspectives such as X is a product of settler colonialism, it erases blackness, it erases femicides, etc etc, and again this is coming from LGBTQ magazines.
My point was that in practical usage, specifically when serving in a non profit assisting the homeless, the term is a point of confusion, and more generally, it is basically an online term that works when written, but not when spoken.
Sure, if you grew up knowing English you can probably pronounce it, but a Spanish only speaker usually looks at the word and thinks it is a misspelling, as generally latinx does not result in an easily pronounceable sound following Spanish pronunciation rules.
The only similar analogy I can think of in English is the rainbow of pronouns invented by Tumblr.
I have no problem calling a NB person 'they/them'.
But when it gets to things like xer/xem or bun/buns or fae/faer or some of the other, wackier pronouns I've seen... its often words that are very awkward to say aloud, and they just seem ridiculous.
As a native straight Spanish speaker, I'd like to thank you for so eloquently explaining many of my problems with this way of referring to people's genders. There's no way the language would survive if we were to adapt to these gender neutral modifiers. Spanish is a gendered language and if we were to adapt to these non binary gender terms, we'd also have to apply it for about half our vocabulary. We'd all have to agree a washing machine for example is now no longer a female lavadora, but rather a lavadore or lavadorx. It'd be impossible to gather the entire Spanish speaking community across dozens of countries to agree on the general way standardize this.
Fuck them nonbinaries just wanting to not be misgendered every single day of their existence, right?
As opposed to your stance which is fuck people who don't want to have their language massively rewritten. I think it's far more reasonable to make individual accomodations for the non-binary folks that we interact with and accept that language has limitations and can't be changed overnight.
Languages are not static.