yup, struggle session time
edit: no one is right, everyone is wrong :^)
edit 2: this post is actually dedicated to Amy Goodman, please stop trying to sound cool grandma
No, I won’t. As a non binary language and linguistics student who is also Latine.
I prefer to use Latine, because it makes the most sense within the language and phonetically. I can get why the “x” is odd. I’ll use it when writing sometimes if I’m being lazy but never in speech. The whole discourse about how it’s supposedly some US imposition on us is revisionist nonsense. There have always, always been nonbinary people in Latin America.
Of course people haven’t heard of it. Of course if you poll people they will lean conservative. A LOT of Latine culture is plagued by machismo and catholicism. We are incredibly conservative. That there is division in the community doesn’t mean you should default to siding with the overwhelmingly conservative sidebecause they’re louder and larger in numbers. Let us figure out our own shit, we’re on that, but stop acting like the addition of a gender neutral alternative is some perversion of the language because it supposedly came from the US. What you are doing is repeating Latin American conservative talking points (replace “the US” with “the devil”) and are silencing people that should be your allies. You should give a shit about us.
Spanish is an imposed, colonialist language anyway. Our history is colonialism. We adapt and we change our language to serve us better because that’s the entire point of language. Language is meant to be flexible and exists so we can express ourselves. I can’t express myself in a language that denies my existence, so I change it. It’s 100% fine and the RAE can kiss my ass.
All I gotta say is thank god the two languages I speak, German and Russian, are not widely spoken in the US so our attempts at doing gender inclusivity aren’t met with American struggle sessions about imposing American values on the world. For the record, in Austria the usage of the Binnen I is exceedingly common in both leftist circles and is becoming pretty common in wider society too. With the Binnen I, instead of writing “students (m) and students (f)” as “Studenten und Studentinnen”, you write StudentInnen. People also often include non-binary people by using a “gap”, writing Student_innen or Student*innen. It’s been a thing since the 1980s, gradually increasing in popularity.
I don’t speak Spanish and am not part of the community so obviously I’ll defer to others about latinx vs latine. No dog in that fight. I just wanted to express solidarity because all the Anglos in the thread talking about the imposition of English language norms, like the rest of us can’t come to the idea that using gender neutral language is beneficial to women and queer people ourselves, is infuriating.
EDIT: Oh no oh no, fucking Anglos making the city write RadfahrerInnen (cyclist (m/f)) on a sign , poor us!!!
Ahhh, German checking in to get you the struggle session you deserve, I have problems talking about non-binary people in German when they’re not there or don’t speak German. Obviously when they’re available one could always just ask them, but what pronouns would one use for people who use they/them pronouns? “Es” - “It” seems pretty dehumanising. Or how would one refer to a non-binary doctor? Arzt and Ärztin are both heavily gendered, and there is not really a neutral term.
I’ve been following the discussions and tbh I don’t think there’s a consensus yet. Same with non-binary people in Russian - a non-binary person I follow on Twitter uses он/а [s/he], I’ve seen someone else use оно [it], which yes comes across as dehumanising to me as well but if that’s what they prefer I can’t yell NO YOU CAN’T!! at them. I think some people just continue using he/she, or prefer people to switch within a conversation. I don’t really wanna do a struggle session about it because I’m not non-binary lmao, again I’ll just defer to them. I’m sure as acceptance spreads, one form will win out eventually, as it always is with language.
My point is simply that these conversations are taking place in non-Anglo communities - it’s not like every non-binary person has given up on German/Russian and decided that being non-binary is an Anglo imposition.
hispanic is gender neutral already
Stahp, that is not a synonym for Latine. Won’t anybody think of the Brazilians.
Spanish is an imposed, colonialist language anyway.
Found the American Hispanic
It is, though? Like do you think the Tainos and the Caribs were speaking Spanish?
Do you think the Cherokees were speaking English? No, but if you suggested this idea to an American it would not resonate with them.
