Culture

Back in 2019, only 23% of the U.S. Latin population was familiar with the term “Latinx,” according to an extensive study published in 2021 by the Pew Research Center.

Five years and one pandemic later, awareness for the term has doubled: Today, 47% of U.S. Latins say they are aware of the word “Latinx,” according to a new Pew report published in September. But most of them still don’t like it.

Only 4% of Latino adults say they have used Latinx to describe themselves, a fraction above the 3% who said the same in 2019.

More telling, 75% of Latinos who have heard of the term say it should not be used to describe the Hispanic or Latino population, according to the new report. In fact, the report concludes, Latinx is “broadly unpopular among Latino adults who have heard of it.”

And the dislike has grown. Five years ago, when Pew published its first research on the recognition and use of Latinx, it found that 65% of adults familiar with the term rejected it. In other words, as awareness of the word Latinx went up, its embrace by the U.S. Latinos has gone down.

Why is that?

As Billboard reported back in 2021, when Pew published the surprising findings of its 2019 research, Latinx is a term born from good intentions. Spawned as part of the global movement to use gender neutral pronouns, it was seen as a term of inclusivity in Spanish, a language where many words are differentiated by gender (Spanish, for example, does not have an equivalent of the gender-neutral “the;” instead it uses “la” and “el” to refer to feminine and masculine respectively). The term gained popularity on college campuses and in marketing materials, and by 2018, Merriam Webster added it to its dictionary — where it defines the word as “of, relating to, or marked by Latin American heritage.”

As an inclusive word, Latinx made some inroads. According to the Pew study, 40% of the LGBQT community says the term should be used to identify the Latino or Hispanic population. But a majority in the LGBQT community, 60%, still says it should not.

All other segments of the population dislike the term to an even bigger degree. Those who say it shouldn’t be used include immigrants (77%), U.S. born (74%), English dominant (74%), bilingual (75%), young adults between 18-29 (69%) and even those with college degrees (74%).

The antipathy may be the result of “Latinx” feeling like an imposed term divorced, from the people it’s supposed to describe. There is no way to adequately pronounce the word in Spanish, a fact Merriam Webster itself acknowledges in some of the articles it published about the word, writing: “More than likely, there was little consideration for how it was supposed to be pronounced when it was created.”

This is a problem. For one, those who don’t speak English simply don’t know how to pronounce the word; in Spanish, the x ix pronounced eh-quis, not ehks. Moreover, it would appear the word was not conceived by, or for, Spanish speakers, marking a clear demarcation for those who identify as Latin to begin with.

The dislike has been duly noted in many sectors. LULAC, one of the country’s oldest Hispanic rights associations dropped the term from its communications in 2021, saying it was “very unliked” by most Latins. And some government officials have gone as far as to propose the word be banned from official government communication. In the wake of the presidential election this month, the validity or not of the word Latinx was again brought up, but all the handwringing and dramatic reaction feels like overkill.

Truth is, there is no consensus among U.S. Latins on how to describe themselves — which in itself, is a reflection of the vast plurality of the population. According to the Pew study, the majority of respondents, 52%, prefer “Hispanic,” followed by 29% who prefer “Latin” or “Latino” and just 2% preferring Latinx. “Latine,” another gender inclusive adjective that is much easier to pronounce, is nevertheless lesser known; only 18% of respondents had heard the term.

When it comes to “Latin” music, which is defined as music predominantly in Spanish, most artists identify as “Latin,” “Latinos” or “Latinas.” But Spaniards identify as Spaniards, even if they’re doing “Latin” music.

Which is all to say, how individuals or groups identify themselves should be up to those individuals or groups, and certainly not to outside commercial and political interests to ban, impose or even give an opinion about.

As far as Billboard goes, Latin music will continue to be referred to as “Latin.” And artists who make music in Spanish will continue to be referred in whatever terminology they prefer.

Overwhelmingly, their term of choice is “Latin.”