Here’s Why We Need to Put an End to Dystopian “Chromosome” Stories

Trans Twitter found a new character this weekend in author Sandra Newman. What was her crime, you might ask? Similar to the recent graphic novel-turned-TV show “Y: The Last Man,” Newman’s new book “The Men,” due out in June, centers on the all-too-familiar “what if chromosomes were the only thing that REALLY determined gender” plot. And the, you know, inherent transmisogynistic violence that comes with that. 

MY NEW BOOK
Everyone with a Y chromosome suddenly, mysteriously disappears. In the months that follow, the world gets better: safer, kinder, more egalitarian. But the book is about women who can’t let go of the men they’ve lost, and devote their lives to getting them back. pic.twitter.com/xCAdsN1ER0

— Sandra Newman (@sannewman) March 5, 2022

While Newman explained that trans people did exist in the book (how and where?) trans people were still, understandably, pissed off.

Also, just to say: The book is set in a world like ours, not a world where trans people don’t exist. Trans people totally exist and matter in this book.

— Sandra Newman (@sannewman) March 5, 2022

tw transmisogyny

imagine being nonbinary and writing this shit. Imagine writing a book where specifically the Y chromosome disappearing makes the world a safer place. You’re fucking nonbinary. How dare you. You’re the reason our community has so many problems. pic.twitter.com/2iBXEmyKHW

— ofc you have a digimon pfp & pronouns 🦕🦖 (@haruujin) March 5, 2022

The ridicule started immediately: 

“MY NEW BOOK
Everyone with a Y chromosome suddenly, mysteriously disappears. In the months that follow, the world gets better: safer, kinder, more egalitarian. But the book is about women who can’t let go of the men they’ve lost, and devote their lives to getting them back” pic.twitter.com/HkqiaJwlSW

— 🍓 Camellia-Berry Grass 🍓 (@theCBGrass) March 5, 2022

I’m gonna write a book where everyone with a Y chromosome gets huge fucking tits.

— Polly Anna, The Elusive Chanteuse (@JazzCochina) March 6, 2022

But the main problem with all this is that–pushing aside the gender essentialism and TERF-ish assumption that a world without a Y chromosome would be “better and kinder”–it’s a lazy premise that throws trans people completely under the bus yet again: specifically trans women, who already have to face discrimination and violence daily. 

‘what if everyone with a y chromosome disappeared and the world magically got better’ yeah what if most of my friends and partners and lovers died

— brie skull emoji 💀 (@bonkey_bong) March 6, 2022

I feel like this shouldn’t need to be said, but all of humanity’s faults are not stored in the Y chromosome

— Genderfuck Disaster Bard (@VictoriousBard) March 6, 2022

Trans author Lilah Sturges poked fun at the concept by simply reversing it: 

In my new book, there is a virus where everyone with an *X* chromosome dies and it’s a *very* short book

— Lilah Sturges (@LilahSturges) March 5, 2022

MY NEW BOOK
Everyone who’s ever written an “everyone with a Y chromosome disappears” book suddenly, mysteriously disappears. In the months that follow, the lives of trans women those authors previously knew get better: safer, kinder, more egalitarian.

— Halberd Goth Sarah (@fakegothsarah) March 6, 2022

Basically, everyone is fed up with the idea that chromosomes hold some grand secret to world peace at the expense of trans women’s lives. 

if you elect me president I’ll make it so there’s only one law and it’s that you’re not allowed to write books about everyone with a y chromosome dying anymore

— Redwall Abbey Head Baker (@JuliaFtacek) March 5, 2022

Dr. Theyngelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Y Chromosome

— hot pot broth vat enjoyer (@OnlyPianos) March 5, 2022

For a final word on the subject, let us refer to Gretchen Felker-Martin’s expert commentary:

The idea that a world ruled by women would be a kinder or gentler one is, in its own way, deeply misogynistic. Women are complete people. This entails a capacity for cruelty and an inability to cope with holding power over others without enacting violence and oppression.

— Gretchen Felker-Martin (@scumbelievable) March 5, 2022

I’ve been saying this since the unbelievably stupid Mad Max: Fury Road came out and dammit if it isn’t still true.