# Your opinion of the word "Womyn" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 13, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510 "2006-08-13T02:22:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/101 "2006-08-14T14:22:36Z")
I think it was started by someone going through mynopause. I find it so irritating I’d like to smack them upside the myndible. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/102 "2006-08-14T14:27:05Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Silly; reminds of the complaints over the word “history”, and the attempts to call it “herstory” or “personstory”. [/QUOTE] Has there ever actually been a (serious) complaint of this nature? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/103 "2006-08-14T14:45:53Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Has there ever actually been a (serious) complaint of this nature? [/QUOTE] [Apparently](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herstory). > [@](#): > > The Oxford English Dictionary credits Robin Morgan with coining the term in her 1970 book, Sisterhood is Powerful. However, the article points out that > [@](#): > > the word **history** (from the Greek historia, meaning “a learning or knowing by inquiry”) is etymologically unrelated to the possessive pronoun his. Not that actual etymological facts are enough to persuade most womyn, wimmin and womben, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/104 "2006-08-14T16:47:53Z")
[QUOTE=Steve Wright] If I see it, I’ll roll my eyes discreetly and try to ignore it. [/QUOTE] I roll my eyes overtly and try to ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/105 "2006-08-14T17:34:12Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] _Yf Y lyv hyr tomorrow, would you styll rymymbyr me…_ [/QUOTE] Great. Now I’m going to go through the rest of the day with a mental image of the Swedish Chef singing “Freebird”. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/106 "2006-08-14T19:07:29Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] I think the supporters of this spelling are tree-hugging, moon-howling, Birkenstock-wearing nutballs. [/QUOTE] What \*\*silenus \*\* said. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/107 "2006-08-15T05:11:44Z")
What a convenient punching bag for an antifeminist backlash. When you get tired of punching it, could you shut off the lights and lock up? Thanks. See ya… ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/108 "2006-08-15T07:57:46Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] What a convenient punching bag for an antifeminist backlash. When you get tired of punching it, could you shut off the lights and lock up? Thanks. See ya… [/QUOTE] More of an antistupid backlash. ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/109 "2006-08-15T11:53:15Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] What a convenient punching bag for an antifeminist backlash. When you get tired of punching it, could you shut off the lights and lock up? Thanks. See ya… [/QUOTE] I support equal rights for women. I loooooooove women. I just find the “womyn” thing to be representative of feminisms lesser traits. And one of the reasons people make fun of feminists is that the "womyn"ists are often lumped in with them. There are people who have worked (and still do) for suffrage, equal pay for equal work, equal opportunity in the workplace, preventing violence against women, allowing them into the military and clergy, and a great number of other necessary and noble efforts. But the use of “womyn” is sorta funny. And poke-fun-at-able. Some of the other traits of feminists that I think goes against them being taken seriously is hypersensitivity. And a lack of humor. Not that I am saying either applies to you… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/110 "2006-08-15T13:35:35Z")
I’m with you, **Johanna.** ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/111 "2006-08-15T14:49:44Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] I’m with you, **Johanna.** [/QUOTE] So, you folks gonna change your usernames to **Shoshyna** and **Johynna** as a sign of solidarity with all womyn ? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/112 "2006-08-15T14:57:03Z")
So is anyone gonna write an email to that college with the actual facts and suggest that their educational mission might be better served by not making shit up? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/113 "2006-08-15T14:59:35Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] What a convenient punching bag for an antifeminist backlash. When you get tired of punching it, could you shut off the lights and lock up? Thanks. See ya… [/QUOTE] Don’t forget, Johanna, people who use the word “womyn” particularly hate people like you and me. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/114 "2006-08-15T15:07:38Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] Don’t forget, Johanna, people who use the word “womyn” particularly hate people like you and me. [/QUOTE] Are you talking about the Womyn’s Music Festival and that inane policy (is that still in place?), or is there something else? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/115 "2006-08-15T16:10:59Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] Are you talking about the Womyn’s Music Festival and that inane policy (is that still in place?)? [/QUOTE] Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/116 "2006-08-15T16:14:19Z")
**Der Trihs** , I already said in my first post to this thread that I don’t use these tendentiously altered spellings. I don’t know anyone who does. The only examples cited as still in use are leftovers from the 1970s or '80s. Enough beating up on poor old _Eohippus_. Careful, you’ll pound those fossil bones to dust, a loss for paleontology. **Eve** , I grew up on Second Wave feminism, but nowadays feel much more at home in the Third Wave. Young feminists accept transsexual people as a normal matter of course nowadays. The grumpy old fogies who had a problem with us are now way behind the times. Recently I met a 20-year old feminist who told me that my joy and openness about owning my womanhood help her to feel better about being a woman. These days I also meet a lot of older feminists who may have harbored prejudice against us in the old days but now accept us. The “inane policy” of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival to exclude MTF trans women is still in effect, last I heard (actually, isn’t it going on this week? It’s sometime in the middle of August…). I’ve heard that the rival Camp Trans keeps growing bigger and is more fun. I’m not sure how much enthusiasm the MWMF still has for actually enforcing its exclusion rule, or if they have some version of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Some MTF trans people, like Kate Bornstein, have supported the MWMF’s right to make this rule. I see it as a relic of an unenlightened past that is best left on the dust heap of history. I love to poke fun at myself with feminist humor, as long as it’s good. (Has anyone read _Titters_?) Q. How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb? A. That isn’t funny! ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/117 "2006-08-15T16:30:47Z")
> [@](#): > > So, you folks gonna change your usernames to Shoshyna and Johynna as a sign of solidarity with all womyn ? Sure, if it provokes as much passion as this thread has. And people acuse feminists of being too serious–yeesh. > [@](#): > > Are you talking about the Womyn’s Music Festival and that inane policy (is that still in place?)? Eve and Johanna, as we know, all groups, whether feminists or other, include idiots. I’m sorry that gender policing is still so rampant. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/118 "2006-08-15T16:50:51Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] The “inane policy” of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival to exclude MTF trans women is still in effect, last I heard (actually, isn’t it going on this week? It’s sometime in the middle of August…). I’ve heard that the rival Camp Trans keeps growing bigger and is more fun. I’m not sure how much enthusiasm the MWMF still has for actually enforcing its exclusion rule, or if they have some version of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Some MTF trans people, like Kate Bornstein, have supported the MWMF’s right to make this rule. I see it as a relic of an unenlightened past that is best left on the dust heap of history. [/QUOTE] It’s interesting, if you look at that “Womyn’s Centre” website from Carlson University, it says… > [@](#): > > The Centre has two rooms: in the front, a resource library and study area for all students to use; in the back, a Womyn’s only space open to all students who identify as womyn. I think from this it seems clear that _they_ would include transgendered people, doesn’t it? I think the policy of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival shows a much deeper hatred of men than a silly thing like changing the spelling of “women.” They are going to hold it against you for being born male, even if you don’t consider yourself one, and have gone to great lengths to change it. I just don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/119 "2006-08-15T16:56:38Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] **Der Trihs** , I already said in my first post to this thread that I don’t use these tendentiously altered spellings. I don’t know anyone who does. The only examples cited as still in use are leftovers from the 1970s or '80s. Enough beating up on poor old _Eohippus_. Careful, you’ll pound those fossil bones to dust, a loss for paleontology. [/quote] [QUOTE=Johanna] The “inane policy” of the Michigan **Womyn’s** Music Festival to exclude MTF trans women is still in effect, last I heard (actually, isn’t it going on this week? It’s sometime in the middle of August…). [/quote] Bolding mine. It’s being used _right now_; I also linked to that festival earlier. For that matter, google the word and you’ll get plenty more examples. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/120 "2006-08-15T17:17:18Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Bolding mine. It’s being used _right now_; I also linked to that festival earlier. For that matter, google the word and you’ll get plenty more examples. [/QUOTE] Right. And the information page at that website says: > [@](#): > > The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival is an all-female gathering that began **three decades ago** (bolding mine) So that sounds like it falls under **Johanna** ’s rubrick of “leftovers from the 1970s or '80s”. I’m not understanding your point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510.md?page=7)