The research’s main findings was locating the oldest post in which the gender-neutral “x.” The researchers utilized Voyant to examine patterns and pinpoint when the “x” entered widespread use. In recent years, the “x” has gained popularity in the United States, particularly the term “Latinx.” Some have claimed that the gender-neutral use of “Latinx” was created by U.S. academics, while others have pointed out that the pushback is fundamentally anti-LGBTQA+. Anti Latinx arguments commonly disregard the fact that the “x” has been used in activist circles in Latin America for many years, alongside other efforts to create a more gender-neutral or gender-expansive terminology, such as replacing the “o”/“a” (which typically, but not always, mark the feminine and masculine gender in Spanish in (^cite https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41276-018-0137-8#Sec4)
As a historical project, it is important to underscore the centrality that social movements in a post-2001 Argentina played in constructing intersectional movements. This new political era created a period of openness that made it possible for working-class people to embrace new gender identities, not just political participation but also challenging the sexism and heteronormativity reflected in the Spanish language.
The first examples of the use of the gender-neutral “x” was “lxs trabajadorxs” (April 29, 2003) and “lxs porteñxs” (May 6, 2003) in the Trabajadores (Workers) section. The “x” appearing first in the Trabajadores section is significant in showing the intersectional nature of the labor, gender, queer, and student movements. Since the Partido de los Trabajadores Socialistas (PTS, Socialist Workers Party) played a key role in the Trabajadores section and in the feminist movement with the formation of Pan y Rosas (Bread and Roses), it shows that the emergence of the “x” came from an ideological cross section of the burgeoning feminist movement in Argentina. In another example, a July 25, 2003 comment by the user otra vez (translation: again) in Indymedia Argentina engaged in a debate that some communist militantes (party members), in particular the PC (Communist Party) and PO (Workers Party), are gay but only focus on the class struggle, while use the “x” throughout the text.
The above graph is the result of totaling all the “x” usages on the Indymedia Argentina website from 2001-2009. Choosing three primary keywords (lxs, trabajadorxs, muchxs) that made use of the gender-netural “x” demonstrates the growing popularity of the letter over time and gaining traction from 2003-2005, and then again from 2008-2009.
Additionally, the “x”‘s use was more refined as users of Indymedia practice it in writing. Throughout the articles and years, there was a lot of experimentation and comments disputes about the purpose and overall utility of this letter. A good example is the various gender-neutral terms for a group of workers: trabajadorxs, trabajaborexs, and trabajadores. All three were seen at different points and different authors, but all three reach the goal of inclusion.
A final item that the Voyant text analysis revealed is how the uses of the “x” were very clustered. Mainly concentrated inside single articles that used the “x” more than once, this left a span of articles without any such instances.
Future Research
In terms of the data collection, it was discussed that future research include developing a better understanding of the context in how the “x” was used and how it changed over time. This requires doing data collection on the “@,” locating when the debate about using the “i” or “e” (for speaking purposes) emerged, and why the “e” was ultimately chosen. This would required expanding the research until Indymedia Argentina was archived in 2018.
Another area to extend this research is to better place the emergence of the gender-neutral “x” as a counter-culture symbol that included the punk/anarchist scenes, the Nation of Islam (Malcolm X), and pornography, to name a few. Some individuals from Argentina and Chile consulted about the project said that they vaguely remember seeing the “x” in fanzines and flyers from the anarchist/punk/okupa scene in Spain and South America. Whether it was used as gender-neutral language or for edginess reasons still needs to be investigated.
On historical research outside of data collection, there are several archives that need to be consulted to further understand the development of the gender-neutral “x”:
- Review minutes, newspapers, and journal articles, as well as conduct interviews, on discussions about the “x” or challenging the universal male language at the 2003 Foro Social Mundial (World Social Forum)
- Review archives of Spanish fanzines connected to the anarchist and okupa movement in the the early 2000s
- Review Argentine archives (including personal archives) on anarchist/okupa fanzines and the Encuentro Nacional de Mujeres (National Women’s Encounter) in the early 2000s