As the youngest generations grow, inclusivity, acceptance and awareness rise, as well as how people desire to be addressed. It is common to create more labels — some people love it, others do not. People of Latin American and Hispanic heritage have come face-to-face with a new term, “Latinx,” and it has stirred some controversy.
Within the Latin-American community, the most common terms are “Hispanic,” or “Latino”. “Hispanic” refers to a person from a Spanish-speaking country, whereas “Latino” refers to someone from a Latin American country. These terms can overlap, but they are not the same, and not all Latin Americans identify as Hispanic. For instance, a person from Brazil is considered Latino, but not Hispanic, a person from Spain is considered Hispanic but not Latino and a person from Panama can be considered both, and so on.
It can all boil down to how someone chooses to identify themself, as for people who choose to identify as “Latino” or “Latina,” specifically, the term “Latinx,” has been made as a gender-neutral option. “Latina,” is the feminine name, while “Latino,” is the masculine, as well as the plural, used as “Latinos.” Terms like “Latinx,” and “Latine,” emerged in popularity as gender-neutral, all-inclusive alternatives. However, these terms emerged to describe someone Latino living in the United States, but it is not considered a word in the Spanish language.
“Latinx” was created with the argument that Spanish does not have gender-neutral nouns or pronouns. This is false, it is simply a bit different from English. For example, most times, if referring to a group of people, Spanish will use the masculine form of a word as a plural. This is done with words like “parents,” or “children,” which translate to “padres,” and “niños.” If looking at the word, “professors,” the plural referring to female professors translates to “profesoras,” and the gender-neutral plural translates to “profesores.”
While traditionally, these pronouns are not gender-specific, as they refer to groups of people, many argue they are not inclusive. This goes down to the origins of the Spanish language, why it was decided to use masculine words in plurals, we may never know for sure. Was it because most traditional things are sexist? It is highly likely. After all, most things were back in the day. However, this does mean that words like “Latinos,” or “padres,” are offensive, and non-inclusive. In the Spanish language, these words have no gender preference. “Latinos,” includes everyone, women, men and even nonbinary individuals because this is Spanish’s form of a gender-neutral term.
To push to change a Spanish word and label it as non-inclusive is offensive to Spanish speakers. To take a gender-neutral term and try to change it because it does not fit an American’s standard of what a pronoun should look like, is inherently racist. In the United States, for the 23% of the population that self-identifies as Hispanic or Latino, “Latinx” is highly unpopular. According to Pew Research Center, 76% of these Latino or Hispanic-identifying adults have never heard of the term, while within the 20% who have heard of it, only 3% use it.
In 2021, the President of the League of United Latin American Citizens made the decision to drop the word “Latinx,” from the organization’s communications. “The reality is there is very little to no support for its use and it’s sort of seen as something used inside the Beltway or in Ivy League tower settings,” Garcia said to NBC News. “Let’s stop using Latinx in all official communications,” he added, explaining that it is “very unliked” by most Latinos. Not to mention, “Latinx,” is not formal Spanish, and it is not a part of the Spanish language, according to the Real Academia Española.
While “Latinx,” was made with positive intentions of being more inclusive, the Latino and Hispanic community has shot it down, and for good reason. People who continue to use “Latinx,” should be aware that it is an unnecessary and offensive distortion of the Spanish language. The word “Latinos,” includes everyone, this extends to nonbinary individuals and anyone who use pronouns other than “she,” or “he.” There should be no argument to change the integrity of the Spanish language, “Latino,” includes all.
