San Diego Comic-Con‘s social media handlers received criticisms online after their use of the controversial term “Filipinx” on their posts.
The San Diego Comic Convention (Comic-Con International) or SDCC is an annual entertainment event dedicated to celebrating the culture and history of comic books, their adaptations, and their fans.
This year’s convention took place from July 21 to 24 in San Diego in the United States.
The event’s official social media accounts posted on July 22 a group photo that showed guests for its program “Filipinx Voices in Pop Culture.”
The activity took place at the Omni Hotel in San Diego on July 21.
“The Filipinx Voices in Pop Culture was a fun and educational all Filipinx panel discussing Filipinx influences behind your favorite media!” the post reads.
Based on SDCC’s website, the panel discussed the Filipino-American influences on pop culture.
“Filipinx/Filipinx-American influences can be found in every facet of pop culture. But have there been times when this culture has been pushed away from representation? Does the general population know how many Filipinx people are behind their favorite media?” the description reads.
The panel guests are the following:
- Alix Catherine (content creator, “The Welcome Party”)
- Earl Baylon (voice actor, “Tomb Raider” series)
- Mitch Narito (actor, “The Good Place”)
- Andrea A. Walter (film director and cinematographer)
- Law Sharma (senior content producer, Cinemablend)
- JPG (pop-culture consultant, InterMyth)
Amid the Filipino-American representation, the use of “Filipinx” to refer to the Filipino-American panelists in the photo received the most buzz online.
The keyword once again trended on Twitter Philippines with over 3,000 tweets under its belt.
Social media users told off the handlers to stop using “Filipinx” to call Filipinos.
They pointed out that “Filipino,” the correct term as stated in the Constitution and in Philippine history, is already gender-neutral.
RELATED: Is ‘Filipinx’ a correct term to use? Debate for ‘gender-neutral’ term for Filipino sparked anew
“UTANG NA LOOB, don’t ever call us Filipinx. No one uses that. We do not recognize that term. The term ‘Filipino’ is already gender-neutral,” one Twitter user said.
“Please just use ‘Filipinos’ like a normal person, stop with the ‘Filipinx’ nonsense already. ‘Filipino’ or ‘Pilipino’ is already gender-neutral,” another Facebook user commented.
A few users quipped that they should have just called them “mamser,” a vernacular coined name that combined “ma’am” and “sir.”
“Sorry. I’m born and raised in the Philippines, and I only identify with Mamser,” another Facebook user wrote.
One Twitter user lamented that what was supposed to be a joyous occasion for Filipino voice actors turned into a topic of debate.
“What was meant to be a celebration of Filipino Voice Actors has turned into complete hate because of the use of the stupid made-up word ‘Filipinx’. Again, Filipino is already gender neutral so please stop making it a thing,” one user said.
Filipino-Americans or Filipino immigrants who use “Filipinx” previously stated that they adapted it from the “Latinx” society to refer to people in Latin America who are also members of the LGBTQ community.
Dictionary.com, a widely-used English language platform, also added “Filipinx” to its database in September 2020.
It is defined as “of or relating to natives or inhabitants of the Philippines (used in place of the masculine form Filipino or the feminine form Filipina).”
READ: A look at Philippine-related terms added to Dictionary.com and how Filipinos are using them
