Fem coded is a new one on me!

[Raininspring]

Just seen this on social media.
There’s a discussion on wheelchair users and how skirts and dresses fit differently when in a chair. Entirely legitimate and valid point!

The term ‘fem coded’ is used by someone in the comments…… this is a new one to me, so just wondered if this is a popular term? Albeit used by people who think anyone who says they are a woman, actually are.

In this context fem coded is just a shorthand for a person who is wearing clothing typically worn by females - specifically skirts and dresses.

It’s not a big deal.

What is a big deal is how hard it is to get clothing suitable to wear when using a wheelchair. It’s very poorly understood and hardly any clothing designers take it into account.

Accessible clothing lines are a tiny bit more visible now than a few years back, and thank goodness for the internet making it easier to find and buy.

But there’s still not a whole heap of choice. Wheelchair users often wind up getting clothes adapted, which is a high cost, and it’s getting harder to find someone with the skills to do the adaptations well now.

"fem coded folks" - I'm only surprised they didn't spell it "folx".

It's a deliberate, jarring and politically-motivated turn of phrase when "people" would have served perfectly well.

There's a load of publicly funded "research" and narcissistic wittering by activist academics into "fem" this and "fem" that, but especially "femmephobia / femophobia / feminophobia". It's all men dressing as "feminine" women whilst purporting to be feminists and obsessing over their invented phenomenon of "anti-femininity".

Well, there's women and...

Seems like you are looking for a way to be offended by this to the point where you don’t even mention the subject - wheelchair clothing that doesn’t flash your underwear.

Feminine female fem-coded - whatever. It’s skirts and dresses in this context, and it’s not complicated or difficult to understand that’s the intention of the twitter comment.

To repeat: "people" would have served perfectly well.

people would have served perfectly well

How so? People wear a whole lot of different clothing including trousers.

The tweet was about skirts and dresses, which are socially coded as female / feminine / fem in our society.

Sorry, I've not come across the phrase before - can I ask, would a woman in a pair of women's jeans (and a woman's top) not be "fem coded" then?

Context. It would have been perfectly obvious and unambiguous from the context. That's how communication works.

Good question. This exposes the fact that the person replying was inserting unnecessary, politicised language into the discussion.

Tops are also tricky for female wheelchair users - just in case anyone on this thread is actually interested in that, rather finding a problem with fem-coded to mean skirts and dresses.

They typically need to be slimmer and shorter in the sleeve to avoid catching in wheels when self-propelling, but not so tight as to restrict movement.

Can be a real pain to find something big enough to fit muscly shoulders in women’s styles (aka fem-coded)

Unhidden is a great brand for inclusive clothing. Very stylish and thoughtful.

Thank you for sharing this information and the link @Titerama I have learned a lot--quite interesting to read on Unhidden page the different design elements/adaptive features for a range of bodies.

People like this love the word "coded" because it sounds science-y.

Who exactly do you mean by “people like this” @OzempicClicker?

That tweet is by and for women who use wheelchairs. Using that phrase to describe them is pretty awful and dehumanising.

Take a look at Liberare as well - they’re amazing in underwear that isn’t a hideous struggle to get in or out of.