Leftists are forsaking the term “Latinx,” meant as a gender-neutral version of the Spanish descriptors “Latino” and “Latina,” for the purportedly more couth alternative “Latine.”
In a 2017 article written by Salon writer Yessenia Funes, the term Latinx was praised as a solution from “feminist and queer Spanish speakers” to boost inclusivity within the “male-dominated Spanish language.” Though she recognized that the term may not “feel organic rolling off the tongue” for native speakers, Funes shrugged off the concern: “It is what it is.”
Today, however, the publication — as well as universities and other media outlets — have reversed course, instead preferring the term Latine. In another Salon article published earlier this week, writer Melissa Ochoa exhorted readers to “stop using ‘Latinx’ if you really want to be inclusive.”
“When I first heard Latinx in 2017, I thought it was progressive and inclusive, but I quickly realized how problematic it was. Five years later, Latinx is not commonly used in Spanish-speaking countries, nor is it used by the majority of those identifying as Hispanic or Latino in the U.S.,” she reasoned. “In fact, there’s a gender-inclusive term that’s already being used by Spanish-speaking activists that works as a far more natural replacement.”
Indeed, a survey from Pew Research found two years ago that only 3% of Hispanic people in the United States identify as “Latinx,” while another poll from last year showed that only 2% prefer the label. The rest of the respondents used the terms “Hispanic,” “Latino,” or “Latina.” At the same time, other surveys have found a growing popularity for the Republican Party among Hispanic voters.
Ochoa, acknowledging that those who prefer the word Latinx are “predominately English-speakers and have some college education,” also noted that Argentina and Spain explicitly banned the terminology. Rather than embracing one of the more traditional identifiers, however, Ochoa encouraged her readers to use Latine — an expression users can easily adapt to Spanish pronouns, such as by replacing the masculine “los” with “les,” or the demonym “mexicano” with “mexicane.”
“I believe Latine accomplishes what Latinx originally meant to and more,” she explained. “Similarly, it eliminates the gender binary in its singular and plural form… Linguistic theory posits that language shapes reality, so cultures and communities can create words that shape the inclusive world they want to inhabit.”
Ochoa also supports changing the term “wife beating” to “intimate partner violence” for the purpose of “increased social awareness.” Indeed, leftists often modify language in order to meet political goals.
Daily Wire host Matt Walsh featured the pivot from Latinx to Latine in a recent episode of “The Matt Walsh Show.” He noted that conservatives have been pointing out the lack of compatibility with Latinx and the broader Spanish language — as evidenced by the extraordinarily low popularity of the phrase — for several years.
“She is still proposing manipulating a language to suit the needs and desires of an academic elite,” Walsh said. “She is still advocating something that nobody in the Latino community uses or will use. She is still erasing sex distinctions. So ‘Latine’ has all of the same problems of ‘Latinx,’ except that it arguably maybe sounds slightly less stupid.”
Walsh observed that leftists are uniquely gifted at erasing past absurdities while forwarding new ones. “They’re going to find a way, somehow, to double down even while backing down.”