Streaming platform Twitch received backlash Monday from both liberals and conservatives after referring to Women’s History Month as “Womxn’s History Month.”
“March is Womxn’s History Month,” Twitch said on Twitter. “Join us in celebrating and supporting all the Womxn creating their own worlds, building their communities, and leading the way on Twitch.”
March is Womxn’s History Month.
Join us in celebrating and supporting all the Womxn creating their own worlds, building their communities, and leading the way on Twitch.
Read more: https://t.co/8O9mlG2T2v pic.twitter.com/RBODXHpZhh
— Twitch (@Twitch) March 1, 2021
“Twitch is a place where creators can build their world and have their voice heard,” the streaming platform said in an blog post. “And womxn are doing that live, every day.” (RELATED: Democrats Celebrate Women’s History Month By Calling For ‘Economic Justice’ In ‘Feminine Hygiene Products’)
“Building channels. Building communities. Building the future of gaming. And inspiring all of us while doing it. Including the next generation of womxn streamers,” the article continued. “So this month, join us in celebrating womxn creating their own worlds, building their communities, and leading Twitch to the next level.”
Conservatives pointed out that “womxn” is not a real word, and liberals said that the use of “womxn” in place of “women” is offensive to transgender people. (RELATED: KERNS: Media Spend Women’s History Month Forgetting Republicans — Not Democrats — Gave Women Right to Vote)
Womxn is not a real word. They’re called women and they’re born with XX chromosomes + a female reproductive system. If you don’t know that then you should return to middle school ASAP.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) March 1, 2021
i understand and appreciate the attempt at inclusion, but if you intend on celebrating trans and cis women, that’s just women. “womxn” is otherising.
— harley (@breadwitchery) March 1, 2021
Quick suggestion…
The motive is solid. The direction is good. Take the tweet down, replace womxn with women and pop it back up.
Sometimes overly inclusive can lead to exclusive.
— Cohh Carnage (@CohhCarnage) March 1, 2021
literally just call us dishwashers that’s better at this point
— Hana ️⚧️ (@PastellHana) March 1, 2021
You learn something new every day.
I thought “womxn” was an attempt at inclusion, so I was like “oh okay”.
But according to many of you who know WAY MORE than me – apparently it’s an exclusionary term and transphobic.I had no clue, and assumed it was just corpo weirdness. https://t.co/6GOZ1IXkOt
— Jesse Cox – Somehow In Cyberpunk 2077 (@JesseCox) March 1, 2021
twxtch whxt thx hxll xre yxu trxing tx dx https://t.co/rSvzw5eOF5
— Lindsay Ellis (@thelindsayellis) March 1, 2021
In June of 2020, Twitch faced backlash when the platform banned then-President Donald Trump’s account for “hateful conduct.” Trump joined Twitch, which is owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, in 2019 to try and help his re-election campaign