‘Filipinx’: Comic-Con Pushes New Woke Ethnic Label

The comic-book convention Comic-Con International faced backlash on social media last week when it referred to a group of Filipino content creators as “Filipinx.”

Filipinx is used by gender identity activists as an alternative gender-neutral ethnic term to refer to people from the Philippines. Linguist Nanette Caspillo told Vice that the term is “unnatural” because “the suffix ‘-x’ does not exist in the Philippine linguistic system.” While advocates for the term contend that it is more inclusive of people who reject the traditional gender binary, Filipino social media users pointed out that the word “Filipino” is already gender-neutral.

The Filipinx Voices in Pop Culture was a fun and educational all Filipinx panel discussing Filipinx influences behind your favorite media! 📸 Edward S. pic.twitter.com/OOgLFKp2pf

— San Diego Comic-Con (@Comic_Con) July 22, 2022

The response to Comic-Con’s foray into ethnic gender-neutrality was overwhelmingly negative on Facebook and Twitter.

“I’d rather be called a racial slur than Filipinx” one user wrote. 

“Please stop trying to impose weird western gender ideology onto people who never wanted it or asked for it in the first place” another said.

Left-wing activists have made efforts in recent years to normalize “Latinx” as a gender-neutral term for Hispanics. Almost no Latinos use the term, and 40 percent of Hispanics find it outright offensive. Democrats have struggled to maintain support among minorities in the leadup to the midterms, with many pointing to the party’s focus on its progressive social agenda as giving rise to the alienation of non-white voters.

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