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Alright, I often frequent the ED threads, and when I go there to talk about abortion, or women's rights I usually get things said like "stop spelling women wrong, its women not womyn" I usually say my reasons for using a Y, and people are still pissed saying that I'm uneducated.

I would just like to know that I have some Gaian support in my use of WOMYN instead of WOMEN.

Here are some facts behind WOMYN:

Let's look first at the origins of the word "woman" itself. It comes from the Old English "wif-man," meaning "female human being." The male counterpart was "wer-man," or "male human being." Over time, the "wer" was lost and "man" (human being) became the accepted term for males. Men were the significant sex, while women were an adjunct, almost an afterthought. Men were simply human beings, but women had to be qualified.

In light of this, changing womEn to womYn allows women to separate themselves from men, to become individuals - whole entities who don't need qualification. It counters the assumption that men are the default sex. It allows women to celebrate their womanhood, to celebrate those aspects of themselves that are not shared by men and are often reduced, demeaned or simply overlooked by a patriarchal society.

Changing language is one of the clearest ways of challenging current social norms and morals. In making a statement against the people who enforce rigidity in language, women are making the same statement against the people who enforce rigidity in gender roles. In a patriarchal society, these people are typically men in both cases.

In this sense, womYn identifies women as feminists - and this isn't necessarily bad. These are women who are taking a stand against society. Maybe not in radical ways, but in small, individual ways, they are changing the system. Anyone who joins their ranks is taking a similar stand. Women who won't admit this are deluding themselves; you can't align yourself with a women's group and say you're not anti-establishment, anti-patriarchy, or pro-woman.


all of that information was found at imprint online


Also, I wanted to know if anybody would/already use the word WOMYN from now on.

I had used womyn in an essay, and no points were deducted from my paper...it does give the word pretty much the same meaning, but it gives individuality, and independence.


EDIT TO ADD: I like to think of womyn or wimin...any alternative spellings of "woman" as an alternative spelling. If I were to say colour in gaia, I might get a few "spell it right dumbass" comments, but if I say "that's the english way to spell it you americans" then I'd still be correct in my spelling, but they wouldn't really fully understand the reason why.

I have heard the word woman being used as an inferior. My friend Sara was refered to as "woman" and not by her name as in "hey woman!" I have never heard the word woman used in any way other than inferior when refering to somebody. The linguistics history is to show that the origin is based on man being the default, and woman not being an independent word.

The "ultimate goal" of feminism is not just equality. Its about a woman having control over their bodies, and being liberated. Equality is just part of the picture.

a stupid word is not keeping me from enjoying my gender or from being an individual. to say that it is would be to admit defeat to those who want to make me feel like i should feel inferior because of what i am called. i'm proud to be a ******** woman, regardless of the terminology used to label me.

that's cool; i never knew the reasoning behind it before.

i tend to err on the side of "a word is a word is a word". i definitely don't think that woman should be used derogatorily, as in "HEY WOMAN!". but i don't think we need to change its spelling to overcome that.

do you also support gender-neutral pronouns and stuff like that?

Yea, I try to use GNPs in labeling myself partially because some people don't know which one to use when refering to me. I also use them with pre-op trans...many ask to use one because they aren't sure if they're comfortable with either pronoun.

It's an interesting concept, but I don't think that I'll change my spelling of "woman" because it honestly doesn't bother me that much. I've never had the term woman used in a derogative way around me, and it seems like more of a silly elitist thing than a stand.