Hashtags to describe: group of women and non binary transfolk

February 27, 2019 1:17 PM

Need words and hashtags to describe this configuration of people

I sing in an upper voice chamber choir which up until recently was all composed of women and normally sings woman-composed choral music. This year there are also some non binary trans FTM folk in the choir who don't identify as a woman.
We are doing a fundraising project online and looking for hashtags that can represent a group of women and non binary trans folk , instead of using #womeninmusic, which is not inclusive or reflective of who actually composes the choir. We may need to invent something.
I'm doing some research here before reaching out to choir members for input. Thanks!

posted by winterportage to Media & Arts (24 answers total)

Femme of center is kind of okay although not every afab enby would identify with that... Although it sounds like what you want to focus on is people who sing well in cis female ranges.

Good on you for trying to be inclusive, though! Perhaps you could just specify the lowest range you'd like and say you're lgbtq inclusive? Or is it important this exclude cis men / amabs?

I don't have a snappy hash tag, just trying to figure out where you're coming from.
posted by MuppetNavy at 1:22 PM on February 27, 2019

Something to do with the treble clef? Cheeky version: #choirintreble
posted by wellred at 1:23 PM on February 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: people who sing well in cis female ranges.


Yes , this is what I'm going for - basically we sing in soprano and alto ranges.
posted by winterportage at 1:27 PM on February 27, 2019

I think something that plays on "upper voices" is nice. Are you trying to highlight that you are inclusive of nonbinary people or just avoiding saying women?
posted by mskyle at 1:34 PM on February 27, 2019 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: Are you trying to highlight that you are inclusive of nonbinary people or just avoiding saying women?
I am not sure , to be honest. I just want to market this fundraising page
posted by winterportage at 1:43 PM on February 27, 2019

I'd actually very much encourage you to talk to your nonbinary members before you go too far towards finding a solution on your own. Allyship isn't about studying up ahead of time so you look like you know the answers. It's about listening to the actual specific people you're trying to be an ally to. Finding a term that they like matters more than what the rest of the internet thinks.

That said, the inclusive term I've been hearing for this voice combination recently, rather than "women's choir," is "treble choir."

And on the hashtag question, I wonder whether it would be acceptable to use both #womeninmusic and #nonbinaryinmusic, since your choir is in fact an example of both women and nonbinary people in music.

But I'm just some random queerdo, so please prioritize your nonbinary members' opinions over mine.
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:45 PM on February 27, 2019 [12 favorites]

Best answer: It isn't gender-specific but I like #tessitura as it speaks specifically to where one is most comfortable within the range, a fundamentally trans-inclusive and trans-supportive concept that is also cis-inclusive.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:48 PM on February 27, 2019 [15 favorites]

Response by poster:
I'd actually very much encourage you to talk to your nonbinary members before you go too far towards finding a solution on your own. Allyship isn't about studying up ahead of time so you look like you know the answers. It's about listening to the actual specific people you're trying to be an ally to. Finding a term that they like matters more than what the rest of the internet thinks.

Yes, I totally agree! I just wanted to find some ideas so that there's no pressure on them to figure this out if they don't want to / don't have time and I'll bring them a list to consult and see if they have a preference. Also, it's going to be the choir director that decides in the end but we're just gathering info at the moment :)
posted by winterportage at 1:52 PM on February 27, 2019 [4 favorites]

I think the word treble (voices/choir/etc) would work, and is a reasonably common way of describing an upper voice choir. This example includes the phrase "Open to all singers who identify as a soprano or alto voice" which sounds like where you might be going with it, unless you want to specifically exclude a cis male countertenor who wants to join the group.
posted by tchemgrrl at 1:56 PM on February 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

I don't necessarily have an idea apart from the ones that have been suggested already, but personally, I'd avoid #womeninmusic or #nonbinaryinmusic, as, well, AMAB women and nonbinary people aren't going to be able to participate.
posted by lilies.lilies at 2:05 PM on February 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

Be careful using the hashtag "Tessitura," it is the name of a specific fundraising and ticketing software used by arts organizations and could cause confusion. Which is too bad because it's the perfect word for what you're looking for.
posted by juniperesque at 2:20 PM on February 27, 2019 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Be careful using the hashtag "Tessitura," it is the name of a specific fundraising and ticketing software used by arts organizations and could cause confusion. Which is too bad because it's the perfect word for what you're looking for.

oh NOoooooOOoOo :( That's too bad because it's so perfect for this.
posted by winterportage at 2:26 PM on February 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

That said, the inclusive term I've been hearing for this voice combination recently, rather than "women's choir," is "treble choir."

I don't think this is technically correct. The most common usage now for "treble" refers to child singers (usually boy sopranos). In English church music history, "treble" was a higher range than "alto." If I saw "treble choir," I'd think "boys' choir" before anything.
posted by praemunire at 3:03 PM on February 27, 2019

oh NOoooooOOoOo :( That's too bad because it's so perfect for this.

Meh. Whatevss. #wearetessitura or #tessituratogether or #singtessitura or #xyztessitura where XYZ is the acronym for your org.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:09 PM on February 27, 2019 [4 favorites]

I don't necessarily have an idea apart from the ones that have been suggested already, but personally, I'd avoid #womeninmusic or #nonbinaryinmusic, as, well, AMAB women and nonbinary people aren't going to be able to participate.

Trans women can talk and sing in female vocal ranges so I'm not sure why they couldn't participate?
posted by floomp at 3:35 PM on February 27, 2019

I've got a professional group that uses #wgm or Women and Gender Minorities. Right for us in that group, maybe not for all situations.
posted by Miko at 4:09 PM on February 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

I mean, not *all* trans women sing in the soprano/alto range, and some cis men also sing in that range (though it sounds like the OP’s particular choir consists of AFAB people who sing in the soprano/alto range, at least in its current membership). If the chorus identifies as being for women and gender minorities it’s a different group of potential singers than a group that sings SSAA repertoire exclusively.
posted by mskyle at 4:26 PM on February 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

Femme of center is kind of okay

I'd suggest this one is actually disastrous, given where masculine of center originated.
posted by hoyland at 5:08 PM on February 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

Might want to check out the Seattle Women’s Chorus to see what hashtags they use. They are an explicitly LGBT organization with cis, trans, and NB members.

Do not use femme of center if you want to be inclusive of all gender presentations. That would be pretty alienating for a lot of people.
posted by lunasol at 5:18 PM on February 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

Treble, SSA, equal voices.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:55 PM on February 27, 2019

#hautevoix ? people will tell you that's not actually what it means, and then you can tell them it's clever

as bad french it is still much closer to what I think you mean than anything incorporating "femme," which would alienate those it describes as well as those it doesn't.

beyond hashtags it will help to clarify whether your membership qualifications are based on vocal range alone, or a combination of vocal range and gender ( you specify "nonbinary" trans people, which presumably means trans men are not eligible regardless of vocal range, but other descriptors make me less sure.) if you are inclusive of everyone but men, I think it is better to say so than to lay out all the admissible gender categories and risk missing some.

and if some men are theoretically eligible but you just haven't got any at the present time, better not to pick a tag you'd have to change again when the membership does.
posted by queenofbithynia at 6:05 PM on February 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

Anecdata: I'm cis female, and 'femme of center' would put me right off.
I support the notion that it's better to refer to the voice ranges than to the genders of people singing in those voice ranges.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:58 AM on February 28, 2019

Best answer: How about, simply, #uppervoice, #uppervoicechoir or a variation of that?
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:59 AM on February 28, 2019

Is this for Instagram, where you can use multiple tags as a way for people to find you? When I was promoting my last stage project I used every tag that was fairly relevant and had a decent enough presence that people would find me. This varied from #femalemagician (it was a stage magic show of sorts) and other performance-related ones to more identity-specific ones like #qwoc, #lgbtq, and #qnboc. #queeraf was pretty good, though it depends on how queer-centric your choir is. In this vein I'd say #womeninmusic and #nonbinaryinmusic work together because that's how they'll find you. Location tags are good too.

If it's just one hashtag unique to your project then I'd say it depends on whether your fundraiser has a name. Probably some combo of your choir name + fundraise or support.
posted by divabat at 4:31 PM on February 28, 2019