The debate around the term “Latinx”

 

POSTED ON Jan 07, 2022

 

The term Latinx was created to represent various gender identities across the spectrum but some people in the Latino community still refuse to use it. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2019 found that only 3% of Latinos used the term when referring to their community. In a 2021 Gallup poll, only 4% of people identified as Latinx with the majority identifying as Hispanic.

Although Hispanic and Latino/a are used interchangeably, they mean slightly different things. Hispanic refers to the language spoken, and Latino refers to the region. Latin countries are those in Latin America so although Brazilians speak Portuguese, they are considered Latino. On the other hand, they are not Hispanic because their main tongue is not Spanish. Likewise, people from Spain are Hispanic because Spanish is their main tongue but are not Latino as Spain is in Europe.

Latinx began as a gender-neutral term instead of the gendered terms Latina or Latino, commonly used in the Spanish language. But the use of the term is a polarizing topic in the Latino community. Although Latinx was added to Merriam-Webster in 2018 and the Oxford English Dictionary in 2019, The Royal Academy of Spanish (RAE) refuses to acknowledge the term.

Cristobal Salinas, a professor at Florida Atlantic University who has researched the use of Latinx, said the term is sometimes seen as US-centric and can only be understood by English speakers. This is another way Salinas believes the US is influencing Latin America. Salinas conducted a study with 34 Latin American students and asked them about their thoughts on the use of the word Latinx. Many of the students admitted they only use the term in higher-education settings but not around their families because it did not translate across generations.

Some people who oppose the term Latinx have suggested using “Latiné” or “Latinu” as gender-neutral alternatives instead because they follow the rules of Spanish better.

“Regardless of what terminology we use, we have to remember that people create terms to express their own realities, and we should not let terms create our realities,” Salinas said to CNN.