History Xpl@ined: Tracing the Gender-Neutral X in Argentina is an ongoing research project that seeks to understand the historical origins and social debates that led to the widespread use of the gender-neutral “x” in Argentina. Professor Romina A. Green Rioja’s (Prof. Green, History Department) previous research placed the emergence of the gender-neutral “x” in the post-2001 social movements in Argentina. The project’s focus is the Indymedia Argentina site, a media activist website created in 1999 to document the World Trade Organization Protests in Seattle, Washington. In early 2002, activists founded Indymedia Argentina to document protests and social movements and connect with anti-globalization activists worldwide.
WLU’s 2023 and 2024 Summer Research Scholar program funded this project spearheaded by Professor Green. WLU students Evan Clark (’26) and Ashley Escobar (’26) conducted the research with assistance from digital humanities professor Mackenzie Brooks. Students Clark and Escobar scraped and documented the Indymedia Argentina site from 2001 to 2009 (for more details, see the Methodology section) locating the oldest posts and comment sections that used the gender-neutral “x.” Its inconsistent used also allowed the researchers to analyze patterns and changes in the use of the “x” demonstrating how it went through several years of experimentation and debate. Clark and Escobar examined posts, comments, and photographs from the archived Indymedia Argentina, the Wayback Machine, and analyzed the site’s code. Please visit our site to better understand our methodology and examples of our findings.
Note: Throughout this site, we put the “x” in quotes to highlight and discuss its use.