I found that the use of folx is not widespread nor is it used outside of LGBT+ communities, but its usage is a way to index support and recognition of non-binary individuals. Finally, the survey concludes with demographic information to determine which group is most likely to use folx than folks along with the social media site they use the most. Then it focuses on the experience’s participants have with both folx and womxn along with why they chose to use that specific spelling and their perception of each word. ![]() The survey first gauges the perceived gender of various words such as guy, dude, womxn, women, and so on. To assess the perceived neutrality of both folks and folx, I created a survey that was distributed through social media such as Swampy Memes for TWAMPy Teens, Swampy Memes for LGBTQ Teens, and my personal social media accounts. However, it is not any more or less neutral than the original folks and is not viewed as a better alternative. This paper argues that the use of folx is meant to index the support of non-binary individuals and show inclusivity through language. One suggestion is to use the word folx, which is a variation of the word folks where the ‘-ks’ is replaced with an ‘-x.’ Using “folx incorporates the x that is being widely used to bring in more identities to conversations, such as womxn, Latinx, and alumx” (Robertson, 2018: 47), thus adding to a tradition of using ‘x’ or ‘-x’ to show inclusivity. ![]() Since the rise in awareness of non-binary identities and how greetings such as guys and dudes are inherently masculine, thus marginalizing both women and non-binary individuals, there has been an increased need for a gender-neutral way to address groups of people. ![]() Building off recent research on gender-neutral language, this paper will examine the use of folks and folx concerning usage and perceived neutrality.
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