Making ads aimed at the ladies is now… ehh… sexist? Exclusionary? Transphobic? How about all of the above? Online retailer for all thinks nerd, ThinkGeek.com, recently had a ill-fated run-in with Social Justice Warriors after posting up a ladies’ apparel ad for a 50% off discount on their site. Little did they know that they were opening a can of worms by trying to appeal to biological women.

The ad originally went up on January 7th, 2019, but was taken down just hours later after Social Justice Warriors began complaining about the ad to ThinkGeek.

Originally the ad stated…

“We’ve added a bunch of new clothes to our clearance section, especially for our XX chromosome geeks.”

The Social Justice crowd took great offense to this, calling it “transphobic” and “cissexist”.

And even if you just meant it as “people with this natural body type regardless of identity” having it all in the WOMEN’S section still defeats that. — ㅤ ㅤ. (@sharkserenade) January 7, 2019

.@thinkgeek your ad for ladies’ apparel clearance is a prime example of how ignorance can lead to cissexism. not only does “XX chromosome geeks” invalidate trans men and women, it also completely erases that not every person has XX or XY chromosomes. pic.twitter.com/QqzvzSAVxv — mere-y litmas (@RichYcuth) January 7, 2019

Really, @thinkgeek? You’re going to pull this so soon after there was a video of a trans woman at your parent company @GameStop being misgendered by an employee? Not all women have XX chromosomes, and not all people with them are women. Please do better for the trans community. pic.twitter.com/I2LOTyP5ij — BrigYEETte (@YourGirlRatBaby) January 7, 2019

By the way, if you’re sharing tweets from me about this please share my girlfriend’s as well since she’s trans and is actually affected by these attitudes https://t.co/0gxBlUpvPC — BrigYEETte (@YourGirlRatBaby) January 7, 2019

bc this is getting a bit of attention, it’d be very much appreciated if anyone reading this could also like and rt my friend’s tweet, as she was the person who was directly impacted by this and brought it to my attention. thanks! https://t.co/5lDStQwl5v — mere-y litmas (@RichYcuth) January 7, 2019

Now to clarify, “cissexism” relates to biologically born males or females committing acts of sexism against those who are non-binary or trans.

It didn’t take many tweets for ThinkGeek to respond.

In fact, out of almost every criticism they received from people claiming to be offended that the ad mentioned that ladies have XX chromosomes, ThinkGeek would pop into the thread to apologize, stating that they would do better.

I’m very glad you guys are listening to your fans. We make a scene simply because we know you can do better, and we genuinely love your content. — ㅤ ㅤ. (@sharkserenade) January 7, 2019

Thank you. There are a lot of online resources like I said. There’s also the option of contacting local trans, non-binary, and LGBTQ+ groups, some of them provide corporate training for businesses who want to improve. They will also have information leaflets. — Fi ❄ (@goldfainne) January 7, 2019

ThinkGeek didn’t waste any time taking down the original ad and then posting a message on Twitter later that day on January 7th, 2019, indicating that they were sorry for offending their followers and potential customers.

We apologize for the language posted on our website today. It was not inclusive and we are so sorry this happened. We have changed out the graphic and appreciate this being brought to our attention. — ThinkGeek (@thinkgeek) January 7, 2019

The graphic indeed did change on the ThinkGeek website.

The original promotional ad was swapped for another one that only features three chicks on the left, the promo code, and the bold text that reds “Ladies’ Apparel Clearance”.

You can see the comparison between the two images below, with the original ad at the top and the modified, censored ad at the bottom.

So now even ads for discounted apparel is no longer safe, as it may not just be labeled as “sexist”, but “cissexist”. I don’t know if there’s a more dangerous kind of sexism out there… “cissexism”.

(Thanks for the news tip AgentBJ09)