COMMENTARY: Spanish speakers consider Latinx to be an affront to the language

Los Angeles-based filmmaker Alex Rivera spoke recently at American University in Washington, D.C., talking about the lack of diversity in science fiction and how artificial intelligence interprets diversity in illustrations. His focus, he said, has always been on the Latino community, or rather, he said wryly, “my community, formerly known as Latino.”

His comment elicited a few chuckles from the audience, including from a couple of students who understood what he meant.

“It’s that one about Latinx, trying to be inclusive and all,” said one student.

“Yeah, but I don’t pay attention to that,” said the other.

And they all waded into one of the hot – and controversial — topics in the Latino community: Latino? Latina? Hispanic? Latinx? Latine?

What do you call people when you’re trying to make sure everyone feels included but unlike English, you’re trying to un-gender a gendered language?

A recent survey by Pew Hispanic Research found that while those born in the U.S. were more likely than the foreign-born to have heard of Latinx, that doesn’t necessarily translate to greater use. The survey, in fact, found that just 4% of Latinos and Latinas in the U.S. actually use it, and I agree that it’s not well-liked by many Latinos, especially those who, like me, grew up in a Spanish-speaking country.

It’s exhausting seeing how some U.S. Latinos in their quest to be nice to everyone co-opted what I and so many Spanish speakers consider to be an affront to the language by using an x. In Spanish, X means something completely unimportant. Likely started by well-meaning people who try to be inclusive with a gender-specific language without realizing how insulting it is to be considered part of a community with the meaningless X in Spanish.“Un X tal,” a total nobody. And it’s crept into usage by some in the Latino community. Ugh.

“For Latinos an x means nothing, it means nothing of consequence. Un x tal fulano, you say that when you’re not taking someone seriously,” says Yesenia Contreras, who arrived in the United States as a youngster from El Salvador and is a paralegal finishing law school and working for a law firm that specializes in immigration law. “I’m Latina. I’m not nothing. I don’t use it as all. I’m not a Latinx woman,” she told CALÓ News.

“We never use it at work and everyone I work with is Latino or Latina from all over the place. None of us use it. The Spanish language is gendered,” Contreras added.

Lillian Frazier is 10 years old and a fourth grader at a bilingual (Spanish/English) Montessori middle school in Washington, D.C. She told CALÓ News that using X sounds like something out of a movie.

“You know, like X men. Well, we’re not X men, we don’t have magic powers. We are just people. We are Latinos and Latinas. There are a lot of Latin families at my school and only one family uses Latinx. The school doesn’t,” she said.

The Pew poll said that just 1% of Hispanic men use it, and Olmar Zelaya is among that 99 percent who don’t. Zelaya, 27, was born and raised in the United States to a Central American family.

“Here we go again with another term we have to learn. I don’t use it. I mean, if you want to be called a certain way or be known a certain way, then go for it, but don’t force all of us to do it. That is annoying,” he said.

That sentiment is echoed by Samantha Martínez, 18, who has Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian parents and is a college student in Louisiana. Even though the Pew researchers said that more Latinas – 14% – than men use the term, the majority still say no thanks.

“I am a Latina. A LATINA. And I’m proud to be a Latina. If people want to use it then that’s fine but don’t force everyone to use it. If you want to be called Latinx I will call you Latinx, but don’t call me that and erase the word I use just because some people don’t like it or some people said this is what we are calling ourselves. I actually prefer to be specific, such as Puerto Rican, or Mexican, like that. Be as specific as possible,” Martínez said.

Personally, being raised in Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico means what Contreras says about X – that it means something that is absolutely nothing. Frankly, I find it insulting to the Spanish language to use what is likely an anglicism created by folks who don’t understand how Spanish and other gendered languages work. Unlike English, the Spanish language has what could be called a “final authority” on the correct usage of the Spanish language, the Real Academia de la Lengua Espanola (the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language) and they have expressed in no uncertain terms how opposed they are to its use, calling it “unpronounceable” and “unnecessary.” They also add that just because Spanish is gender specific does not make it “sexist.”

In parts of Latin America where people see that adding x to the end of a word makes no sense (lx mesx, for the table?), the “e” has been gaining some favor, such as in Latine (pronounced Lah-tin-EH) in Spanish, a much more palatable option for those who strive to be inclusive within the constraints of a gender-specific language. Certainly better than using a word that crosses many out or deletes us.

Interestingly, the Pew survey says a majority (61%) prefer the term “Hispanic” while less than a third (29%) said they prefer “Latino.”

But among those who spoke with CALÓ News, that majority said no to Hispanic.

“I hate that Hispanic term,” says Martínez. “It’s a colonizer word. I don’t care for it.”