Calling us ‘womxn’ proves how lunatic the diversity agenda can be

The idiocies and contradictions arising from the new gender politics are many. But if a key aim is to empower women, why are so many right-on folks now acting like the word “woman” is itself dirty?

The itch to tamper with the word that the vast majority of adult females use to describe themselves in the most basic sense seems to be inviting lots of scratching. The latest – and, thankfully, ill-fated – attempt was the Wellcome Collection’s bizarre decision last week to deploy the term “womxn” to describe the audience for “Daylighting”, a four-day, archive-busting series of events on “art, activism, performance, politics, health and print”.

“Womxn”, in case you don’t know, is “woman” (or “women”; it’s really not clear) shot of the kangaroo word “man” (or “men”), and is supposed to be inclusive of trans women and a generally more, you guessed it, “diverse” group of female or female-ish humans. It can be pronounced in a number of ways, including “wo-minx”.

“We’ve had some questions about why we’re using the word ‘womxn’ for this event,” the Collection explained on Twitter. “We’re using it because we feel that it is important to create a space/venue that includes diverse perspectives. It was agreed during our conversations with collaborators as the programme developed.”

Well, that’s all right then. One wonders what Sir Henry Wellcome, the pharmaceutical magnate whose largesse, willed in 1936, funds the Collection,

would have made of all this. The public certainly wasn’t happy. Many were enraged that “men” remained unchanged. “Change both categories or neither,” tweeted one gender warrior, “this is bullshxt”. The Wellcome has since retracted and apologised, which is nice.

To me, the issue was less the lack of even-stevens word tampering than the fact that this sort of thing is happening at all – to women or men – in the name of including “diverse perspectives”. Because what the Wellcome shenanigan illuminated is how lunatic and actually insulting the new hardcore “diversity” agenda really is.

Instead of focusing on women’s rights, in this instance, or perhaps taking the spotlight off the category of “woman” for a change, the organisers thought they’d performatively stamp on the word, crushing it with the weight of the PC jackboot.

Well, women didn’t like being told they were now “womxn”, and I, for one, am tired of having the most basic categories of identity, and the words that go with them, being meddled and messed around with by those towing the gender-political line. I call such meddlers the little Stalins of PC culture… and it’s high time they left off.

Why are right-on folks now acting like ‘woman’ is a dirty word?