Justin Olhipi
2 min readSep 17, 2020

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Sorry, I gotta call it here. I'm autistic, non binary, 65 years old, white-passing Louisiana Creole, and have seen all the iterations of feminism over the years. And I think this word is just a performative attempt at solution to the problems of inclusivity in feminism / womanism. It's awkward and unpronounceable by the usual conventions of the English language.

It's true that white feminism has not done a very good job of including women who are not white, middle / upper class, able-bodied, neurotypical, slim, etc. I have several dear friends who are transwomen, as well as friends and relatives who are Black or Brown, so I've heard of that struggle. However, the way to fix that is to be more inclusive, not to come up with some new word, especially a clunky word that no one is sure how to pronounce.

However, if we do need another word, what's wrong with femme? It's pronounceable and it's already established in our vocabulary.

By the way, I've heard some talk that the Latinx word is problematic because it focuses on the European side of that heritage, and that the x is a clunky way to force that language into something resembling English conventions, and that makes sense to me. For this reason, some people prefer Chicano, as that word puts more focus on the indigenous side. There are other preferred words also but it turns out that Latino/a/x is actually one of the least popular words according to the survey linked below.

Best thing is, let's listen to each other.

https://zora.medium.com/the-latinx-label-centers-european-heritage-we-should-stop-using-it-f3c9c0c813c3

https://medium.com/@ThinkNowTweets/progressive-latino-pollster-trust-me-latinos-do-not-identify-with-latinx-63229adebcea

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Justin Olhipi
Justin Olhipi

Written by Justin Olhipi

Autistic artist, student of life. Red Letter Panthiest. SJW since the '60's. NB / AFAB. Just visiting this planet. White-passing Creole from New Orleans USA

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