Following Twitch’s promotion and subsequent backpedalling of their use of the term ‘womxn’ in order to celebrate ‘Womxn’s History Month,’ LGBT news outlet Pink News has hypocritically claimed that the term has “been used extensively by transphobes,” despite their own positive use of the term.
In Patrick Kellheler’s coverage of Twitch’s performatively progressive stunt for Pink News, the writer asserted that womxn “has been used extensively by transphobes on social media in an effort to delegitimise trans women’s identities.”
“The word has been the subject of controversy and debate in the past, with a number of organisations facing criticism for using ‘womxn’ in an effort to be inclusive of trans and non-binary people,” Kellheler further explained. “However, many LGBT+ people have pointed out that using the word implies that trans women are a separate category from cisgender women, giving it a transphobic overtone.”
However, while Pink News attempted to stay in line according to the ever moving Overton window of what is and isn’t offensive, their assertion was soon used to point out their own hypocrisy, as the outlet has used the term positively in multiple articles since 2019.
In a July 2019 report on the opening of a London nightclub for queer women, Pink News headlined the article “Nightclub created by and for queer womxn opening in London” and repeatedly quoted nightclub owner Teddy Edwardes, as saying ‘womxn.’
Later that same month, Pink News ran an article on how “When the internet can’t decide whether ‘queer’ is offensive, womxn take refuge offline,” promoting the work of Lesley Magazine, whose staff routinely used the term in an attempt to be progressive and inclusive.
Earlier this year, when English actor James Dreyfus (Mount Pleasant) took issue with how his phone presented ‘womxn’ as an auto-correct suggestion for the word ‘women,’ Pink News then criticized him for ‘whining’ that his “predictive text keeps suggesting ‘womxn.”
The outlet celebrated how it backfired “spectacularly,” as Dreyfus had received a wave of backlash against his comments on social media.
Comparing their recent declaration with their historical reporting, one would assume that the staff at Pink News, by their own definition, were transphobes.
However, it’s more likely that the LGBT+ news outlet’s staff are nothing more than ideologues whose self-inflicted wounds are the result of their constant rearranging of what is and isn’t socially acceptable, itself borne out of a desire to constantly claim some moral high ground.
What do you think of Pink News’ hypocrisy? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below.