The evolution of Latino to LATINX
The liberation for a gender neutral community in Latin America is being accompanied and rallied by a term in the United States where sensitivity to identity is regularly practice. In recent discussion back in the 90’s a term was created as Latin@ to help put the “a” in the “o” showing that these genders are one. Currently to diffuse the binaries set-up by this language the term “Latinx” is now being used by those who refuse to have gender to categorize them in this world. What does this mean for the community south of the border? Who knows for sure. Yet to fight the rights and be the voice for those inLatin America who cannot necessarily do the same, the safe haven to present such an idea would be in the States, the land of freedom of speech.
In the root of the Spanish language, there are words separated by feminine and masculine conjugations. There is la mesa then there is los espejos and are contextualized as one being feminine with the “a” and the other masculine with the “o”. These gendered words are taught as grammatically correct not knowing that the language perpetuates this binary reality of only men and women.
With language “establishing the perception” of the world it is often confused that if you don’t know the language as an expert, you are deemed dumb. Sometimes those who aren’t articulate enough aren’t means they just lack knowledge of the language that is available to them, not that they are mentally incapable.
Even so the world that is created from those of Spanish speaking origins, they call themselves Latinos or Latinas, a male or female version of the word. However, it leaves out an exclusive community that are gender-neutral individuals. They themselves break and destroy the very foundation of the word Latino or Latina from fitting into these two categories. ‘
From individuals living in the United States they are American, those who live in Africa say the are African, those in China, Chinese. These words are all understood in the form of English which is a gender neutral language. In the United States there is a sense of freedom in creating your own words in how you identify yourself especially those who can’t consider themselves male or female. Voices of those who are gender neutral are quickly destroyed in any Latin American country because of the strong cultural perceptions of male and female and thus those in this community are subjected to bury it deep inside their conscious.
Having a gender neutral term created would be best accomplished in an environment where there is an acceptance of such terms like in the United States. For someone to say that they are gender neutral in places such as Mexico, Colombia, they would be exclaimed as being homosexual in the most uncomfortable and derogatory terms they can think of. Most of these individuals have grown up in places where the men dominate the culture such as the concept of Machismo having the men run the household. It is not distinguished as “machisma” where the women are dominant in the household thus clearly showcasing who has power.
