A rant book of things that Wattpad writers do that I find annoying and pointless. Plus topics that need to be spoken about and brought to people's attention.
I have very very little filter, so if you're someone easily offended, my rant book isn't f...
Alright, I've noticed a few things Wattpad has done and I don't know how to feel about them but what's new?
Firstly, let's talk about the art style *cough* Tumblr art *cough* wattpad has used for their black history month.
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Now, at first, I thought it was simply me who found it a little off, but multiple of my friends and others I asked find it weird looking as well.
Also, I know how some feel about light-skinned people complaining about shit but as a light-skinned woman, I'm disappointed there's only one lighter-skinned person out of everyone else in the art, aaaannndd he looks like Obama... Sure, call me a light-skinned privileged colorist, but black people come in more skin tones than just brown and dark brown.
Now,
Onto the other part of this that has me the most confused, I know I'll probably get some heat for this but frankly, I don't give a fuck. I've researched this and this is my opinion. This book is for my opinions, and I'm going to express them.
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Wattpad used "Womxn" as seen in the screenshot above. Why only honoring black girls and "womxn" though? Black men don't deserve to be honored? Oh right, that's because in today's world all men are pieces of shit even if they've done nothing wrong, and "womxn" deserve to be worshipped simply for existing! Silly me, how could I forget the disgusting patriarchy!
If you don't know what womxn means:
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This term was a woke term made by feminists to be "inclusive" to trans women and non-binary people. While the term was invented by a non-binary person and is an official word now, I have never seen a trans person actually identify themselves as a "womxn", and I use Twitter.
Instead of being inclusive, the term is rather exclusive, in my opinion. You're saying trans women aren't female/woman, they're "womxn", which further alienates them from regular women does it not? How do regular words like "woman" and "female" exclude them but this one doesn't?
Oh and by the way, the "man" in woman is rooted in the word "human", not man as in males. Woman means "female human".
From Wikipedia articles on Man and Woman:
The term man (from *mann- "person") and words derived from it can designate any or even all of the human race regardless of their sex or age. In traditional usage, man (without an article) itself refers to the species or to humanity (mankind) as a whole.
The Germanic word developed into OId English mann. In Old English, the word still primarily meant "person" or "human," and was used for men, women, and children alike.
The spelling of "woman" in English has progressed over the past millennium from wīfmann to wīmmann to wumman, and finally, the modern spelling woman. In Old English, wīfmann meant "woman" (literally "woman-person"), whereas wer meant "man". Mann had a gender-neutral meaning of "human", corresponding to Modern English "person" or "someone"
It is a common misconception that the term "woman" is connected to "womb". "Womb" derives from the Old English word wamb meaning "belly, uterus" (cognate to the modern German colloquial term "Wamme" from Old High German wamba for "belly, paunch, lap").
And for those who wonder about the term "female"
The word female comes from the Latin femella, the diminutive form of femina, meaning "woman"; it is not etymologically related to the word male, but in the late 14th century the spelling was altered in English to parallel the spelling of male.
All of this being said, I think it's questionable for Wattpad to throw around "womxn" when a lot of trans people themselves don't even like the term. Nor does it fight sexism, as I've just debunked, the words "woman" and "female" do not come from man as in male. And not to be a bitch but, if you honestly, wholeheartedly believe "woman" is a sexist word, please rethink that and research.
Wattpad tries to be a woke company because they're desperate for good PR, even ex-employees have said that. And like I said, it's also pretty exclusive to only honor "black girls and womxn" and not include black men.
Just say "Honoring the beauty and power of all black people" its much simpler and includes everyone. If you think I'm wrong, that's your opinion just as this is mine, if you identify as womxn, that's on you. I'm not saying you personally can't identify as it, you are free to identify as whatever butters your buns. I'm just pointing out why I don't think it's something Wattpad should use and why I personally don't think the word makes sense or see what it improves for women's rights or the trans community.
You could also say "Well, they're just trying to be helpful!" but trying to be helpful isn't always good. People can be helpful for the wrong reasons or that help can be more harmful than good. It's like when white people feel the need to leave their jobs for black people to take their place, sure, they're trying to be helpful but at the end of the day, you don't need to leave your job so someone of another race can take it. What does that really do to fight racism? Nothing significant, it's to stroke your own ego that you did something "good".
