The Carleton University Students’ Association’s (CUSA) Womxn’s Centre is now the Women’s Centre, following a name spelling change.
An announcement posted to Instagram indicated the centre’s programming would be largely unchanged aside from the name change. The centre offers free menstrual products, contraceptives and other resources in addition to a safe space.
In August, the centre announced its plans to change the name and opened a survey for feedback.
“We heard you and we knew it was time for a change,” the post’s caption read. “Thank you to everyone who helped us come to this decision, whether it was DMing us, participating in our survey, helping us reach our audience, coming to our consultation, behind the scenes communication work, all of you made this change possible and we are forever grateful.”
Aminah Derman, the centre’s administrative coordinator said in August the centre had heard concerns from students that the term “womxn” is transphobic.
After discussions with the Gender and Sexuality Resource Centre (GSRC) and conducting research, she said it was time for a change.
“The research we did was looking at the messages from students that had expressed their concerns as well as reading articles written by 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals that explained the long history of transphobia that the ‘x’ in ‘womxn’ has,” Derman said.
According to Quispe López, an LGBT+ journalist, the term “womxn” emerged in the 1970s and resurfaced in the 2010’s to break away from linguistic sexism, and to cut out the word “men” from “women.”
However, while the term was originally created to include trans women and non-binary individuals in feminist discussions, the term can often do the opposite. Referring to trans women as “womxn” can be invalidating as it suggests they are not real women and that those who identify as non-binary are women, López argues.
The centre was formerly named the Womyn’s Centre but changed its spelling in 2018 to be more inclusive.
In addition to changing its name, the centre announced plans to work with CUSA in August to implement new policies to improve trans allyship after reviewing the Carleton Trans Advocacy Group’s 43 Calls to Action, which were submitted to the university’s administration in February 2022.
“We don’t have the power to change everything, but we can make a small difference in our community,” Derman said. “We hope that this change helps students feel more safe in our space and shows our commitment to EDI work at our centre.”
Featured image from file.
