Many mainstream media platforms have taken up the term “Latinx” to refer to the Latino Community, causing even more distrain towards the term “Latinx.”
Many Latinos do not like the term or do not like being called “Latinx” and prefer to just be called what they are now; Latinos and Latinas.
Only 2-3% of Latinos or Hispanics in the United States use the term “Latinx” to refer to themselves, the rest identify as Latinos.
If only 2-3% of Latinos in the United States use the term “Latinx” the term should not have to be forced upon the whole community.
The Latino Community for the most part also finds that when they are called “Latinx” it offends or bothers them.
“Latinx” also doesn’t follow the traditional structure of Spanish because it is not Spanish which makes plenty of Latinos veer away from the term even more.
Only 23% of Latinos in the U.S know what “Latinx” means, of that 23% only 3% identify as “Latinx” and 74% of Latinos in the U.S. don’t even know what “Latinx” means.
The basis of the term is meant for it to be “more inclusive” for people that feel that they don’t belong to either sex of male or female.
Many Latinos would argue that the word itself already is inclusive because the O doesn’t direct it to just men, it’s collectively talking about a massive group of people including those that feel like they’re not either sex.
“We already have an inclusive word for this…. It’s LATINO, the “o” is already meant to be gender neutral,” John Mcwhartor, a linguistic professor at Columbia University said.
Since the word “Latinx” is not Spanish. it makes many Latinos feel as if they’re ripping away a part of their culture by referring to them as “Latinx.”
The “X” is added to the word and dropping the letter “O” feels more exclusionary to many Latinos as opposed to it being more inclusive.
Originally “Latinx” originated from American activists in the early 2000s who wanted an expansion in gender-neutral terms.
The term is predominantly used by white progressive Americans who want to make the Latino community more “inclusive” and accepting of “multiple genders.”
The term “Latinx” feels like a term that is being shoved down our throats that we must accept even though the word was not created by Latinos themselves.
There are better alternatives to identify the Latino community if people want to feel like there should be a gender-neutral word for the community.
A few terms many Latinos feel better about is the term “Latine” which replaces the ‘X” with an “E” or just calling us Latinos “Latinos” or “Latin.”
Thankfully due to so many drawbacks and rejection of the term “Latinx” many institutions and companies are dropping the term and reverting back to saying Latinos.
People need to retire the term “Latinx” and instead use the term Latino, Latine or Latin.
