University students are now using the word womxn instead of woman, saying it is offensive to include the word man.

Students at Goldsmiths, University of London and King’s College London are known to have recently made changes in a bid to be inclusive.

Adverts, social media posts and publications have now made the switch, although the move has left many people confused – and no-one really knows how to pronounce womxn.

Students have replaced the word women with womxn for a number of societies, saying it is more inclusive (Picture: Facebook)

The last time the word ‘women’ was used by Goldsmiths on Facebook was on October 12. Since then, the Student Union has advertised ‘womxn’s yoga’ and ‘womxn’s events’.




Across the capital at King’s College, there is now the ‘KCL Womxn in Physics’ club.

The Urban Dictionary describes the term womxn as ‘a spelling of “women” that is a more progressive term.

It claims to highlight that the term woman shows historic prejudice and discrimination and the new term ‘includes trans-women and women of colour.’

Goldsmiths University is one of three London institutions who have replaced the words women and woman (Picture: PA)

In the 1970s, the word ‘womyn’ was used by feminists to delete the term man and the theory that Eve came from the body of Adam in the Bible.

However, that proved controversial because it was seen as being associated with white, cisgender feminism.

Cisgender means someone whose personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex.

Critics said that ‘womyn’ excluded trans women and women of colour and therefore it needed to be replaced with ‘womxn’.

Labour MP Jess Phillips said she had never ‘met a trans woman who was offended by the word woman being used.’

Many people also do not know how to say it.

In October, the Wellcome Institute apologised after advertising a four-day event aimed at ‘womxn’.

The museum in London said they used the word to be inclusive but faced a massive backlash.

A spokeswoman for the Goldsmiths Student Union said: ‘Womxn is used to demonstrate our commitment to inclusiveness. No student has complained about its use.’

The universities and the unions are separately governed and the universities say they have no plans to scrap the words.