-Jarytza Linares
Non-binary identities are increasingly being recognized in societies across the world. However, language is a barrier that has to be acknowledged in the validation of these identities.
Several languages do not have this issue, as they may be inherently genderless.
Some languages have masculine, feminine, and gender-neutral terms according to the situation.
Other languages, such as Spanish, are not so lucky as most of their words are separated into feminine and masculine forms.
In the English language, Latinx is being used as the gender-neutral term for Latino/Latina.
However, there has been some controversy in certain spaces about the variation in the use of this term.
People have claimed that in the Spanish language, Latino is already gender neutral and the use of Latinx does not flow properly in Spanish.
This is largely due to the question on how it would be pronounced, as it is pretty common in written form online among younger generations.
The replacement of o/a with an x has typically been accepted, but others criticize it as a form of westernization in our language (even though Spanish itself is a colonistic language).
We must acknowledge that while we must remain in control of our language, Latino (and other words that are referred to as gender neutral) are also the masculine form of words.
Una Latina, un latino, dos latinos. Sexism makes its way into these terms by taking the form of the masculine word when describing people of multiple genders.
As language shifts, people in various Spanish-speaking countries are using the term Latine. They are also introducing the pronoun elle/elles as the gender-neutral pronoun in addition to ella and el.
This pronoun is also encouraged to be used in a similar fashion to the English word them when referring to a group of people. Typically, the masculine form of the work would be used. As mentioned, this can be viewed as a form of sexism, so moving into a different connotation of the word would work to break this away.
While language is fluid, neopronouns (such as zie/zim) used in English are not commonly used in Spanish. Even the use of Elle is not very common. However, the introduction of this pronoun reflects that this is a conversation that is beginning to occur as we move towards inclusion of Hispanic Enbies.
The introduction of International Pronouns Day, and its recognition worldwide proves that it is a movement that we must partake in for the recognition of members in our society who had not had the opportunity to express themselves in this way in previous generations.
https://euforia.org.es/pronombre-neutro-como-usarlo-correctamente-y-por-que-es-importante/
https://shangay.com/2019/10/05/guia-no-binaria-lenguaje-inclusivo-identidad-de-genero/
https://www.enago.com/es/academy/what-are-the-preferred-gender-pronouns-in-academic-writing/
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