Some people might not know but I'm the founder of the Audio Treehouse, a Slack for underrepresented genders, & I have been an inclusivity consultant for other orgs.

I want to talk about why language is important if you are running a group that focuses on diverse genders.1/

Seeing groups that are only for "femmes" or "mascs" is frustrating because as a NBi I don't know if I am welcome in those spaces.

On the outside I look femme but that does not reflect who I am inside because I personally do not want to describe myself with binary terms. 2/

Even though I look "femme" most days I would not feel happy or myself if I was in a "femme's only" space.

Do you have to look "femme" or "masc" to be allowed in those spaces? It's difficult to tell unless they explicitly state who's welcome. 3/

When I first started my Slack it was called "Women in Audio" because at the time I was identifying as a woman and I wanted to base my group off of a similar VR Slack.

After it went live I had a few trans women asking if it was ok for them to join and I told them of course! 4/

The Slack when it was created was for anyone who identified as a woman.

Still having those women come to me with their questions made me realize I should always be descriptive with who my communities are for. 5/

Later on the group was rebranded "Women and NBis in Audio" because we thought adding more gender diverse people would help increase solidarity in our community.

We had several NBi people who were "masc" presenting ask if they were welcome in the group and I said of course! 6/

I eventually learned that "Women & NBis" is not a good term because it leaves out other gender diverse people who also need support like trans men & it also equates NBi people as "women lite" which 100% not true!!
7/

Now we explicitly state that our group is for people who are who are transgender (including trans men), intersex, agender, nonbinary or otherwise gender diverse, as well as cis women.
I learned from my mistakes & listened to those who spoke up so we could become more inclusive.8/

I know the phrase "underrepresented genders / sexes" isn't as pretty or short as something like "femme" or "masc" but it is a transparent term that includes a wide range of people and can even include cis women if you choose!

More info: https://medium.com/@quinncrossley/uplifting-diverse-genders-beyond-women-and-non-binary-916c890f2185 9/

There's nothing wrong with making a space that's just for cis women, or for NBi people, etc. but if you want to lump multiple genders together it's important to be explicit instead of using vague terms like "masc" or "femme".

Thank you for listening. 10