Twitch Apologizes For Using 'Womxn' In Tweet Celebrating Women's History Month

Twitch has responded to the criticisms that erupted after the streaming service used the word "womxn." While the service announced that it would be using the word "woman" moving forward, the discussions about gender-neutral neologisms spread further, with users also debating whether the worlds "folx" and "latinx" are also appropriate.

On Monday, streaming service Twitch presented its program for celebrating the Woman's History Month, choosing to word it "Womxn's History Month" in an attempt to use more gender-neutral language. However, the attempt backfired severely as Twitch received heavy criticism on social media, with many Twitter users mentioning that the word "womxn" implied a difference between cis and trans women.

The term "womxn" was first used after 2010 by intersectional feminists as an alternative to "women," explicitly to include transgender women and nonbinary people. As "womxn" reached top trending topics on Twitter March 1st following Twitch's tweet, transgender users wrote that the word made them feel unwelcome and excluded, advising them to use "women" instead.

The debate later expanded to include discussions of whether words "latinx," used as a gender-neutral way to refer to Latin-American people, and "folx.," a word used specifically to signal the inclusion of marginalized groups, should continue to be used.

Following the criticism, Twitch deleted its original tweet and altered its website page for Women's History Month.