Recently I have stopped spelling wimmin and womun the "correct" way: w-o-m-e-n/w-o-m-a-n. Wimmin" is the spelling created by radical feminists during the 1970s. It was used to remove "men" from the word, and it was part of a wider campaign to create a womun centred culture: "for wimmin, by wimmin". Underlying this philosophy was the concern: how can wimmin create their own identity, independent of men, when even the word "women" is consumed by "men"?
I like to honour that movement where I can by using that spelling, because without those wimmin and their campaigns I would not have received the rights and privileges I have, such as rape crisis centres, a univeristy education, wimmin's rooms, shelters and centres, law that allows for a boyfriend or husband to be charged for raping his girlfriend or wife, acceptance and love of my cunt, the hair on my body, my menstrual cycle, my entire body as myself rather than an object for penile penetration and male vouyerism (to name but a few).
The word "women" means: wombed-men. This definition assumes that man is the natural standard by which all others must be judged, that wimmin are simply a different version, a variation or mutation, of men. Radical feminists also removed the "o" because they were frustrated that their wombs were used to define wimmin in entirety, they were rejecting: biology as destiny. Or as Simone De Beauvoir articulated: "Women? Very simple, say the fanciers of simple formulas; she is a womb, an ovary; she is female"*. This is not to say that using one's womb is oppressive, rather the way wimmin's wombs have been used against them (that is: to define their worth and selves in entirety) in patriarhcy is oppressive. It was, and is, a statement: "yes I can create life, but that doesn't mean I have to!"
The most common criticism I have encountered with regard to my alternative spelling is "changing a couple of letters in one word isn't going to change anything! What a waste of energy. There are better ways for feminists to fight for women's rights than that". Wimmin who adopt an alternative spelling to the malestream version do not simply do this as one measure for bringing down patriarhcy, it is just another act in their busy activist lives. Therefore saying there are more important ways to combat partiarchy doesn't hold weight as a criticism, wimmin who spell it "wimmin" know better than anyone there are more important ways to fight oppression; they're doing it.
Another concept I have come across is the idea that it should be spelt "women" because it honours and recognises wimmin's reproductive powers: "men come from women, from women's wombs." Saying; but why can't we simply interpret it as: man comes from woman, is a nice subversion of the traditional understanding of the terms, but the reality is that within patriarchy this is not how the majority views it. Within patriarchy wimmin are defined and judged in relation to men (see "Patriarchy" post below). Whatever little we can do to challenge that, such as alternative spelling, is necessary.
Furthermore, by changing the way I spell wimmin and womun I, at the very least, force those who otherwise would not question it, to start thinking outside the patriarchal square. The "Why does Sazz do that?" response is what I'm aiming for, it's the first step towards those individuals recognising that wimmin face huge obstacles as they strive to define themselves indpendently of men.
*Beauvoir, Simone de, The Second Sex, London: Vintage, 1989, p. 3. (First published in 1949)
**On a personal note I chose to spell "woman": w-o-m-u-n, because for me leaving the recognition of my womb/my significant difference from men in the word was important. I decided to use a "u" instead of a "y" because I felt "u" better reflected the sound of the word, and because wimmin don't have a y-chromosome.
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