Intersectional Feminism 101: What is Womxn?

Knotty Vibes
2 min readMar 22, 2018

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The word ‘woman’ evolved from its initial spelling of ‘wifmann’, which means ‘female human.’ What some might notice, is that the word ‘man’ then merely meant ‘human,’ implying that wifmann were an extension of men. Overtime, this word developed from Old English into its modern-day orthography of ‘woman,’ that as we are able to see (much like modern-day bridal traditions) still holds its roots in patriarchy, a system that provides men accessibility to positions of power from that womxn are excluded.

source:Giphy

The new modification in spelling of the word ‘womxn’ is finished in an endeavor to stress the concept that womxn are their own separate individuals, capable of operational on their own and without a man to help them. The new orthography is additionally seen as intersectional, because it is supposed to incorporate transgender womxn, womxn of color, womxn from Third World countries, and each different self distinguishing womxn out there.

Some individuals claim that the modification in spelling could be a minor adjustment that doesn’t do something important or meaningful; however even as micro-aggressions work to subtly enforce racist ideals and tendencies among individuals, the word ‘women’ subtly enforces the concept that womxn are second to men. because it could be a new word, transfer it up in conversation can even result in opportunities to open a discourse concerning the barriers womxn face and have encountered globally for years. It takes bravery to start employing a new word that you’re not quite certain everybody around you’ll perceive, however next time attempt identifying yourself a womxn as a chance to teach others and help this small change become an everyday habit.

In that vein, we at Knotty Vibes have decided to refer to our femininine hygiene as menstrual products as not all people who menstruate identify as female. We hope to end period poverty by giving free menstrual cups to all womxn, while being an inclusive organization.

source: https://www.hercampus.com/school/washington/why-i-choose-identify-womxn

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