The mods of reddit/r/twoxchromosomes knew that their sub name was gender essentialist from a month after they created a “women’s” sub with chromosomes in the name. They had every opportunity to do the right thing and migrate their community to a different /r/. But they didn’t, they continued to promote a sub built on transphobia until it was a default sub putting gender essentialism in front of every single new user on the site.

The migration to Lemmy is the perfect time to undo the wrongs of the past. It’s a brand new community and we have a chance to do some good. We’re not beholden to the names of the past.

Mods: Please please please PLEASE lock this community, delete all posts, and pin a redirect to a community with a better name. Why not /c/women or /c/genderdiversity? There are a hundred names better than this one. What’s the justification for the twoxchromosomes name

The name XX was chosen just because it illustrates the essence of this subreddit and its target Redditors–girly and geeky, and subtly awesome. (You can look here and here to see how the name came about.)

Really? We’re going to associate girliness with a genotype? We’re going to brag about being cisgender? There is no excuse for platforming these ideas. Now is the time to do better.

  • Five@slrpnk.netEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    This is similar to a situation where a community is created for people of color in health sciences named MedicineAndMelanin, and it gets attacked by someone who is black and has albinism because she feels its a personal affront against her. The name wasn’t picked because they intended to exclude people with albinism, they picked it because it expressed the topical goals of the sub along with a cheeky and medicine-specific metonym for race.

    Saying 2X is girly is like saying pink is girly. A lot of women have 2 X chromosomes, and a lot of women (and non-traditionally masculine identifying people for that matter) like the color pink. It’s obviously true in the current social context, but is not necessarily meant to be exclusive. You can still read pinknews even though you don’t have an affinity for that color. The name was chosen because 2X expresses geekiness like melanin expresses medical science, not because it is essential to being woman or black. In the long history of Reddit’s 2XC, they have always maintained a reputation of being inclusive to trans women, consistent with my experience with communities of intelligent, geeky women.

    I support your vendetta against TERFs. I think you’re picking the wrong target. I suspect the mod of 2X would be happy to have your help flagging actual trans-exclusion and posting content supportive of trans-women in her community.