This is an Ask a Geek Feminist question submitted out of season!

Is there a Geek Feminism wiki page that has “examples of trans inclusive language” for gender-specific events?

I don’t think we have such a page, and it would be great to have feedback on this issue. The idea is that some organisations want to exclude people who are privileged by their gender without excluding trans women or people who are in other gender minorities. (Of course, this wording of mine is also up for review!) The reasons they have for explicitly making a statement are:

1. the existence of feminist events that are limited to cis women (or cis women and trans men) leads to uncertainty as to whether trans women are included and may lead to them self-excluding or fearing that they will experience overt hostility at the event
2. the term “women” is exclusionary of some people who are not men and whom the event is intended for

Here’s some examples of what events and programs have recently used.

AdaCamp San Francisco:

The main track is for significantly female-identified people… We use an inclusive definition of “woman” and “female” and we welcome trans women, genderqueer women, and non-binary people who are significantly female-identified.

Double Union:

all members must identify as women in a way that’s significant to them

The Outreach Program for Women:

The Outreach Program for Women (OPW) helps women (cis and trans) and genderqueer get involved in free and open source software.

What do you think? Do you have alternative suggestions or critiques of these examples?

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