So you’re a total girlboss trying to carve out space for women in business, or design, or the manifestation journaling class you decided to teach (sliding scale!), but you also totally understand that gender isn’t binary and want to be inclusive because inclusivity is an integral pillar of your brand. You know exactly what you actually want, but language can be tricky, so here are four inclusive statements to use that aren’t blatantly, “women and non-binary people I consider women.”
“People of marginalized genders”
This is a very acceptable way to verbalize who is welcome in your space, but this category is very broad! It includes trans men, non-binary people of all bodies and presentations, trans women who don’t look like Hunter Schafer and whose lived experience of womanhood might be very, very different from your own! If your “Womxn in the Arts” discussion group isn’t ready to accommodate that level of gender diversity, don’t worry; its name will tip off everyone you’d be uncomfortable around that they wouldn’t actually be welcome anyway. But subtly!
“Women and Non-Binary Folks”
Why not take the easy path and let the implication of your statement be just that – implied! Non-binary people of all presentations are sure to feel either invalidated or unwelcome with this framing, but you don’t have to come right out and say, “This is for ladies and AFAB non-binary people who society and I consider women.” The whole thing will give off such thinly veiled TERF energy, you won’t even have to worry about how to make your event or org more inclusive to trans women, because they won’t want to come!
“No Men!”
This option is technically inclusive of many genders, but it’s also guaranteed to make your trans and gender non-conforming audience wonder, “Hm, what exactly is a ‘man’ to her?” The whole thing will be such a mind fuck that it will weed out everyone but the girlies! Sorry, not the “girlies”; your friend Anna uses they/them pronouns and you really respect that even though you haven’t done any work to deconstruct how you perceive and gender them other than using those pronouns (sometimes). Vagina!
“Women and Femmes”
No one knows what this means and nobody likes it. It’s a strong choice!
Your book club’s IG aesthetic is 70s and now its feminism can be too with these phrases that say, “This space is for people I think are women, but I want to be inclusive, but I don’t want to do any work!” Next up: addressing race and class!
