a writer who regularly contributes a column to a newspaper or magazine
from column + -ist, column from Latin columna meaning pillar
Columnists are named after the physical columns of text in newspapers - they literally write the 'pillars' that support the publication's content!
Journalism professionalized in the 19th-20th centuries with male dominance. 'Columnist' itself is gender-neutral, but the historical role was male-coded; women were often relegated to 'society columns' or 'women's pages' rather than opinion/politics.
Use 'columnist' freely—it's neutral. Specify beat/subject when possible to avoid assuming expertise distribution by gender.
Women columnists like Dorothy Thompson, Ann Landers, and Molly Ivins pioneered opinion journalism and broke into hard news/politics columns despite institutional barriers.
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