this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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Xenia (LinuxFox)

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A c/ for all your cool Xenia fanart.

Who is Xenia? She is a transfem alternative linux mascot, designed in 1996 by Alan Mackey, and was pretty much forgotten until 2019, when she was rediscovered by @cathodegaytube.

For the full story, you can watch this video: [LBRY] [IV] [YT]

Icon by @[email protected], banner by Alan Mackey.

Rules:

1. Credit the artists.

Put the username, initials, or similar in the title, as well as a URL in the description (unless its already in the URL field)

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Transcription of the Twitter thread (including screenshots):

with the permission of alan mackey himself, i'd like to present to y'all the linux fox herself: Xenia!

(info thread to follow, happy #PrideMonth!!)

i actually had this done a while back, but i figured that i should finally let this out of the bag, haha.

a couple weeks back, alan emailed me about my initial drawing and divulged some information about it! like that the orginal image was drawn w/ a mouse on an amiga, and that his brother Ed, who was more involved with Linux at the time, was the one tht prompted him to enter the contest.

lastly, he also told me this!

The fox was intended to be male, although certainly drawn fairly androgynously.. But to me your interpretation of her as female actually makes a lot of sense especially in the context of time. It matches the transitions of a lot of the smartest, nerdiest Linux users I know.

so i'm like "yooo holy shit does that mean that i made her trans then?? this kicks ass", then suggested her name be "Xenia", a name picked by my girlfriend (who had shown me her design in the first place)

he approved. i made the linux fox trans without even realizing!

And sure, you made her trans! Yes, feel free to run down these emails too. Xenia seems like a very appropriate name. I just read Stephen Fry's Mythos, and he had a lot to say about the ancient Greek concept of Xenia. What a weird coincidence.

now, i'm transfem but not a programmer. i like tech and computers but i'm 2 dumb lmao. however, i know a lot of trans girls (incl. my gf) are, so i'd say this is pretty neat lolol

that's kind of all i had to say lol, happy pride from me n Xenia!

  • F. Sinclaire
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

This wasn't the first art of the could-have-been Linux mascot re-imagined (that's linked in the community sidebar), but it's the one that solidified the status of her as a trans woman and resulted in her being given the name "Xenia", with blessings from the original creator.