A London museum swapped ‘women’ for ‘womxn’ and it didn’t go down well

London’s Wellcome Collection is a fabulous place to visit – it’s on Euston Road, since you ask – but it appears to have scored a fabulous own goal with its latest exhibition.

Here it is.

Typeset women back into history with #Daylighting our four-day programme of letter printing presses, zine workshops, discussions on how womxn can challenge existing archives, wikipedia 101 & more. 18-21 Oct. Explore the programme: https://t.co/jt7HitkDaA #free pic.twitter.com/uWTpEhhhwK

— Wellcome Collection (@ExploreWellcome) October 6, 2018

And did you spot the slightly odd thing about it? Lots of people did, so they felt compelled to offer this explanation.

We’ve had some questions about why we’re using the word womxn for this event. We’re using it because we feel that it is important to create a space/venue that includes diverse perspectives. It was agreed during our conversations with collaborators as the programme developed.

— Wellcome Collection (@ExploreWellcome) October 9, 2018

But that wasn’t washing it either and it can only be a matter of time before they go back to ‘women’. Or will it? Have a read for yourselves …

1.

Wellcome replaces woman with "womxn" and men with… no, men just stay exactly the same, because "including diverse perspectives" always means squeezing women out and asking nothing of men https://t.co/HhtHC7DbAR

— Sarah Ditum (@sarahditum) October 10, 2018

2.

Fxxl off.

— Deborah Orr (@DeborahJaneOrr) October 10, 2018

3.

If the Wellcome Collection can't get their next lot of collaborators to agree to use the term mxn, they will have failed to create a space/venue that includes diverse perspectives. Your move, guys https://t.co/MQCcqU04rH

— Marina Hyde (@MarinaHyde) October 10, 2018

4.

To mark World Mental Health Day, the Wellcome Collection has announced an initiative aimed at making women feel like they're losing their fucking minds. https://t.co/kGDfMdzFDx

— Paraic O'Donnell (@paraicodonnell) October 10, 2018

5.

Hello @ExploreWellcome , this is nuts. It doesn’t even make sense. https://t.co/u6ZwLJj6UU

— Rose George (@rosegeorge3) October 9, 2018

6.

So your categories are Men; miscellanous other ? You should have a serious think about what you’re actually trying to communicate here and to whom.

— Tracy King (@tkingdot) October 9, 2018

7.

I've never met a trans woman who was offended by the word woman being used, so I'm not sure why this keeps happening. As if internet dissent now replaces public policy. I get what they are trying to do but why is it only women not men where this applies. https://t.co/f0gC3J1q9p

— Jess Phillips (@jessphillips) October 10, 2018

8.

I’ll be a womxn when men become mxn. Until then jog on and stop eroding women’s rights.

— Suzie Leighton (@suzietcce) October 10, 2018