Title: Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, Chicano: The History Behind the Terms - HISTORY
Headings: Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, Chicano: The History Behind the Terms
Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, Chicano: The History Behind the Terms
The effort to coin a term to describe a wildly diverse group of Americans has long stirred controversy.
'Hispanic' Helps Unify Communities, Agenda
'Latino' as Alternative to 'Hispanic'
Some Mexican-Americans Embrace 'Chicano'
'Latinx' Emerges as Gender-Neutral Term
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Content: While not every Mexican or Mexican American would use the term, it gained traction, including among Mexican Americans who were fighting for civil rights. “Because the word was in regular use at that time,” Bowles says, “it was kind of this way of reclaiming the slur and using it for a political Latinx identity.” 'Latinx' Emerges as Gender-Neutral Term
Spanish is a gendered language. If there is a group made up of women, they can be described as “ellas.” If there is a group with men and women, it defaults to the masculine (ellos instead of ellas). The word “Latino” follows this convention, labeling nouns as either masculine or feminine. For those who fall outside the gender binary, this word fails to represent them, which is where the gender neutral “Latinx” comes into play. Much like the other words used to describe those of Latin American descent, Latinx has faced some pushback—from arguments that it’s difficult to pronounce to the Real Academia Española, the institution tasked with maintaining the consistency of the Spanish language, saying it’s unnecessary. Some even argued non-Latino whites imposed the word on Latinos. Bowles argues against this notion. “