Fact Check : Did Michelle Obama Call Women “Womxn”?!

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Did former US First Lady Michelle Obama controversially called women “womxn”?

Take a look at the claim, and find out what the facts really are!

 

Claim : Michelle Obama Called Women “Womxn”!

Many people are deriding former US First Lady Michelle Obama for allegedly calling women “womxn”. Some even sarcastically ask – how should we pronounce womxn?

Amongst them are Sky News Australia host Piers Morgan, who claimed that by changing the spelling of the word to womxn, Michelle Obama was deriding women, and making a mockery of the trans cause.

What makes this particularly absurd is that Ms Obama’s post was supposed to be supporting women’s rights.

Instead she’s trampled on them by pandering to a tiny minority of people who get upset when they hear a word that’s been used for centuries to describe people who aren’t men.

Many shared his video, with denigrating comments like this :

Totally disgusted! How low will she go?

Michelle Obama is not even a womxn. She’s a man. Everybody knows that.

Fact Check : Did Michelle Obama Call Women "Womxn"?!

 

Truth : Michelle Obama Did Not Call Women “Womxn”!

As much as I like Piers Morgan, he’s intentionally shit-stirring, and factually wrong. Here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : Michelle Obama Did Not Use The Word “Womxn”

Michelle Obama ostensibly posted the word, “womxn” in an Instagram post on May 15, 2022 that offended Piers so much he posted a screenshot of it in his video (see screenshot above).

I went to check out Michelle Obama’s “controversial” Instagram post, but could find no reference to the word, “womxn”.

This was what she posted. See if you can spot the offending word. I could be blind…

It’s been a tough couple of weeks since we saw the leaked SCOTUS draft opinion on abortion. If it comes to pass, we may soon live in a country where millions of women — not to mention our children and grandchildren — lose the right to make decisions about their bodies and their health. Even if we knew the courts were heading toward this day, it doesn’t make the frustration, grief, and fear any less real.

But we don’t have to stand idly by while others try to turn back the clock on progress. I’m so inspired by everyone out marching today. And I know that we’re going to see so many folks carrying this energy forward to the elections in November and in every election after that.

And if any of you are questioning whether or not your vote matters, I get it. But state lawmakers are the ones who will determine whether abortion is safe, legal, and accessible in your communities. And we are the ones who determine our state lawmakers. So when you get home from marching, check your voter registration status with @WhenWeAllVote and encourage others to do the same at WhenWeAllVote.org.

There were seven slides too, but none of them had the word womxn. It is possible that one of the slides did use the word “womxn”, but has been removed.

But what’s certain is that the message that Michelle Obama wrote did NOT use the word “womxn”.

Did Michelle Obama Call Women "Womxn"?!

Fact #2 : Womxn Was Used In Slide She Shared

If you head over to Twitter, you will see that Michelle Obama posted a tweet on May 15, 2022 too, that included the word, “womxn” in the slide :

The leaked SCOTUS draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade could give state lawmakers the power to strip womxn of the right to make decisions about their bodies and their healthcare. If the decision becomes final, anti-abortion laws will go into effect almost immediately in 13 states.

But again, her own message did not use the word “womxn” :

If any of you are questioning whether or not your vote matters, I get it. But remember that state lawmakers are the ones who will determine whether abortion is safe, legal, and accessible in your communities. And we are the ones who determine our state lawmakers.

In other words, Michelle Obama did not actually use the word that offended so many people, including Piers Morgan.

It was used in at least one slide that I can confirm, and another slide that I’m happy to assume existed earlier in her Instagram post, but might have been removed.

Not that there is anything wrong with the word, but it is wrong to falsely claim that Michelle Obama used it in her May 15, 2022 posts when she did not.

Fact #3 : Slides Were Created By NGO, Not Michelle Obama

It may seem obvious, but I have to say it for Piers’ benefit – the slides were created by an NGO called When We All Vote, not Michelle Obama.

If you look carefully at those slides, you can see the When We All Vote logo, with the orange check mark on the upper left corner (Instagram) or upper right corner (Twitter) of the slides.

Therefore, it would be incredibly disingenuous to credit Michelle Obama for the use of the word that Piers and anti-abortion activists find so offensive.

It’s also wrong to insert Michelle Obama’s name to the bottom of the slide (as Piers did on his show), when she was obviously not its creator.

Did Michelle Obama Call Women "Womxn"?!

Fact #4 : Womxn Is Not New…

The term “womxn” is not really new, having been used in writing together with the alternative version, womyn, since the 1970s!

Yes, before many of you were even born, some people had already felt that the term “woman” had sexist connotations, due to the inclusion of the word, “man”.

The term “womxn” started gaining traction in the 2010s, as a more inclusive alternative to the traditional term “woman” as it includes both trans and non-binary women.

It was even added to the dictionary in 2019 by Dictionary.com, which defined the womxn as :

a woman (used, especially in intersectional feminism, as an alternative spelling to avoid the suggestion of sexism perceived in the sequences m-a-n and m-e-n, and to be inclusive of trans and nonbinary women).

Fact #5 : Trans + Non-Binary Females Are Females Too

Trans and non-binary people who are born female do not magically lose their reproductive capabilities and/or rights.

Just because they have a different gender identity does not make their reproductive organs disappear into thin air.

They can still get pregnant, and they are most certainly affected by the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States.

Trans non-binary people LGBT Foundation

Fact #6 : It Is Their Choice, Not Ours

It is also up to trans and non-binary females to determine if they want to be identified as womxn or not.

The womxn naming preference really has nothing to do with heterosexual people like Piers Morgan and me.

If women, including trans and non-binary females, prefer to be called womxn or even womyn, that is their right.

Don’t worry if you still wish to be referred to as a woman. It is up to YOU to determine which term you prefer.

And if Piers Morgan wakes up one day and demands to be known as a mxn called Pierce Morgan, I would gladly call him that.

Anti-abortion activists are doing their best to promote this womxn hoohah to divert attention from the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the bigger question of the right of womxn to make their own health and reproductive choices.

So please SHARE this fact check out, so we can all focus on the facts, rather than false controversies.

 

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

 

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