‘Womxn’ is causing outrage as women slam the alternative to ‘women’ and ‘womyn’.

Confused? Let me explain.

The word ‘womxn’ has been used instead of ‘women’ by two organisations this week.

One is a museum promoting a four-day event and the other a campaign group advertising their charity auction.

The word ‘womyn’ was adopted by feminists in the seventies because the word ‘woman’ comes from the phrase ‘of man’.

For some, this implied a woman’s identity was inherently reliant on man, and so replacing the ‘a’ with a ‘y’ was an expression of female independence.

But, according to various forums, including the Urban Dictionary, the word ‘womyn’ is often associated with the white, cisgender sector of the feminist movement.

And so ‘womxn’ – denoting gender fluidity and inclusivity – began to be used.

This week, a feminist organisation sponsored by fashion brand H&M sparked outrage after using the term 15 times in a promotional email.

In an email to supporters and journalists, Her Stories announced its "first womxn art auction to support London’s refugee and migrant womxn".

The term was immediately slammed as "ridiculous" by feminists and "racist" by women of colour.

And some shoppers claimed they were boycotting H&M for allowing the "bizarre" term to be used.

The word has been called "racist" because it has been defined as "including trans women and women of colour" on various websites, including the Urban Dictionary.

Objectors argue trans women and women of colour do not need a new word as ‘women’ does not only refer to white, cis women.

While clothes retailer H&M is Her Stories’ title sponsor, the organisation is also backed by UK-registered charities Maternity Action, Women for Refugee Women and Ella’s Home, which will each receive a cut of the donations raised at the art auction.

"You have lost me as a customer," one social media user tweeted to H&M’s official account.

"Do you really agree with this nonsense?" said another.

A museum in Euston, London, has been also been ridiculed after using the word ‘womxn’ to plug its latest event.

The word was used to advertise its four-day Daylighting programme.

Describing the event on Twitter , the museum and library tweeted: "Typeset women back into history with Daylighting our four-day programme of letter printing presses, zine workshops, discussions on how womxn can challenge existing archives, wikipedia 101 & more."

It was met with a backlash from angry Twitter users and even an MP, who hit out at staff for using the "offensive" word and questioned why the term ‘mxn’ wasn’t used.

Sunday Times columnist India Knight tweeted: "Womxn! Honestly, f*** off."

And the Guardian’s Suzanne Moore wrote: "How do you pronounce womxn? The same way you pronounce bo*****"

While the alternate spellings are said by some to achieve female independence from patriarchal linguistic norms, many feel it is a step too far.

Jess Phillips, MP for Birmingham Yardley, said on Wednesday: "I’ve never met a trans woman who was offended by the word woman being used, so I’m not sure why this keeps happening.

"As if internet dissent now replaces public policy.

"I get what they are trying to do but why is it only women not men where this applies."

Tracy King also tweeted the museum: "So your categories are Men; miscellaneous other?

"You should have a serious think about what you’re actually trying to communicate here and to whom."

Twitter user Fran argued the word ‘women’ means something to people.

"Mxn too? No, thought not," she tweeted. "Women is a word. It means something.

"Refusing to use it really means something to many many women."

Another Twitter user added: "Nobody outside of a very narrow circle of narcissists and misogynists will even begin to understand what you mean by "womxn."

"The word woman doesn’t need to be edited or to apologise for itself.

"Please compare with your approach to speaking about men and amend."

The Wellcome Collection defended its decision to use the word before removing it, saying it was agreed during conversations with collaborators.

"We’ve had some questions about why we’re using the word womxn for this event," it tweeted on Tuesday.

"We’re using it because we feel that it is important to create a space/venue that includes diverse perspectives.

"It was agreed during our conversations with collaborators as the programme developed."

It later added: "We invite challenges to our thinking and we listen to our audience, so we’re removing the word from the website and from our communications about the event."

The Wellcome Museum is a museum and library which displays an unusual mixture of medical artifacts and original artworks exploring "ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art".

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