Womyn is the best-known one of a number of alternate spellings which some feminists promote as a way to degender the English word women and as female empowerment. Other variants include wimmin (plural), wom!n, womban and womon (singular), while femal (from female) and humyn (human) apply the principle elsewhere. All are pronounced the same as the conventional terms.
Background
The original meaning of the English word "man" (from Proto-Germanic mannaz, "person") and words derived therefrom was as a designation for any or all human beings regardless of gender or age. This is the oldest usage of "man". In Old English the words wer and wyf (also wæpman and wifman) were used to refer to "a man" and "a woman" respectively, and the word "man" was gender neutral. Later, in Middle English, "man" displaced wer as the term for male humans, whilst wyfman, which eventually evolved into woman, was retained for female humans. Since then, the word "man" has been used to refer both to humanity as a whole and to male humans.
Arguments
Feminists who prefer to use these words feel that the terms "woman/women" relate to the historical and ongoing social subordination of women, since the word "man" is seen as the default for human, implying that women are a subset of men, or a deviation from the norm. Women who argue in favour of the terms "womon/womyn" contend that they have the right to choose how a term referring to them is spelled, rather than be compelled to use words that evolved in a patriarchal society. Others further argue that "womyn" is based on a medieval spelling of the word, and that returning to the old model of waeman and wyfman meaning man and woman, respectively, would be more egalitarian. Under this taxonomy "man" would revert to meaning "human".
Some see the adjustments as an example of excessive political correctness. Others feel it to be anti-male gender bias. Still others who consider themselves feminists see the issue as a distraction from what they consider more important feminist goals. Feminists in favor of the reform argue that language is a powerful tool that shapes the way people perceive their surroundings, and even how they understand gender and gender roles (see Sapir-Whorf hypothesis). They also feel that the current form of the words do not value women. Therefore, some feminists see these changes as part of a movement to correct what they consider inherent biases in language.
See also
External link
- Dinosaur Comics comic about the etymology of "woman": http://www.qwantz.com/index.pl?comic=551