"Cisgender" Becoming Part of the Vernacular

[Elena G]

Asterisks were mine, not software's. I'm learning to censor myself a bit. Sorry. 

By the way, is it kosher to use the word 'kickass'? Thanks in advance.

[UCBerkeleyPostop]

I could've gone forever with every kind of trend you could imagine. Water fountains? Is that a trend worth mentioning coming out of a big city?

Of course it is. Can you imagine the resources that can be saved if we eliminated or greatly reduced the use of bottled water? I can look it up if you would like.

I'm talking about the phenomena that make those seven cities appear in such a list, the ones that really matter, which are the ones that make loads of money go around, create media attention, following, etc. It CAN look like a feeble attempt at whatever you were thinking I was trying to do, but just by the type of examples I chose.

You created a classic straw argument. 

All I was trying to explain is that trends are usually overrated. Many things labeled as trends are nothing but the simple and mere act of reinventing the wheel. People put an absurdly high amount of importance on them cause they have an iconic quality and make them feel special. But that's just added value. From Apple products to social conventions, and anything in between.

OK, now you are making a sweeping generalization. Another logical fallacy. 

I know that maybe you feel very assertive because you quote many things with published material and, therefore, make it look like it's utterly right. But that doesn't make it any less debatable.

Anything is debatable. I know because I have engaged in debates in which i have to debate both sides of an issue. But I debate based on evidence and refute logical fallacies, which people often fall into the trap of using. 

And please, next time you quote something, don't edit the quote, much less with a derogative word.
Thank you.

I did not edit your quote I inserted a comment which is a perfectly fair thing to do.

And i might add that pointing out the logical fallacies in an argument is not an insult. Furthermore, I did not start this little aside. The discussion was started by a snarky comment.

[Constance]

Asterisks were mine, not software's. I'm learning to censor myself a bit. Sorry. 

By the way, is it kosher to use the word 'kickass'? Thanks in advance.

That might or might not be. I'd have to ask other staff. I'm inclined to believe it's borderline.

[UCBerkeleyPostop]

BTW I might also add that there is nothing wrong with having a good, healthy debate as long as we keep it civil, which i try to do but sometimes might go a little over the line.

Ad hominem attacks are also logical fallacies BTW. 

[Constance]

And i might add that pointing out the logical fallacies in an argument is not an insult. Furthermore, I did not start this little aside. The discussion was started by a snarky comment.

Some of the comments you've made have seemed to be condescending and, therefore, admonitions were made.

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Here's item 20:

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Thank you.

[UCBerkeleyPostop]

I write in a polemic style that might be interpreted at times to be condescending but that is not my intent. Many of my posts have a humorous subtext which many people don't get...but many do as evidenced by private messages I receive.

Anyway, I need to get back to studying and dissecting Mark Twain.

[Sarah Louise]

A polemic ( /pəˈlɛmɪk/) is a contentious argument that is intended to establish the truth of a specific belief and the falsity of the contrary belief. Polemics are mostly seen in arguments about very controversial topics.

Well I suggest you reconsider your style of writing, it isn't always appreciated.

[Elena G]

Of course it is. Can you imagine the resources that can be saved if we eliminated or greatly reduced the use of bottled water? I can look it up if you would like.

I live in a place that has done exactly that for more than two centuries. So you guys in Berkeley need a lot of catch up to do .

[Ave]

ANYWAY

So, cisgender becoming part of the vernacular?

That's awesome!

[UCBerkeleyPostop]

ANYWAY

So, cisgender becoming part of the vernacular?

That's awesome!

Yes, let's get back on topic.

[justmeinoz]

As I posted, it depends on the context. 

We just covered the Boston Tea Party in a History lecture Devlyn.  Bunch of smugglers unhappy at a cargo of cheaper tea arriving.    Context is everything.

[Devlyn]

Smugglers is such a harsh word. Expedient commodities providers sounds more professional.

[Padma]

And the contraband played on...

[justmeinoz]

Americans are strange. Protesting when taxes go down! 

[UCBerkeleyPostop]

My personal opinion is that stating whether or not someone is transgendered or any derivative thereof or is cisgendered still implies separation. I have seen it in other instances such as gay/lesbian/bisexual (etc) and straight. It just serves to separate one group from another. Cisgender, in my mind, unless used in a non-biased, academic sense, which I have only seen twice to date, just seems to emphasize that separation even more. Getting up in front of a group of people and saying "I am a cisgendered, straight male" automatically implies that he is neither transgendered or homosexual/bisexual. Why does it need to be said in the first place? Why can he not just be a human being? Why cannot we accept him as he comes? Why does he feel the need to identify himself as such?

I explained it before. He was making it clear that he was  part of the dominant (straight cisgender male) hegemony. If he were gay or non-cis, he would not be part of the dominant group. If he were black he would not be part of the dominant. The statement was relevant to a conversation in a Gender and Women's Study Film class.

No one is just a human being in this racist, sexist society. 

To me, non-cisgender gets rid of the stigma that we "changed our sex." I do not identify as trans-anything but if I do have to disclose, such as to a medical provider. (Why are you being prescribed hormones?) Uh, because I am non-cisgender woman. So far, everyone has known what I meant.

[Padma]

Labels can be useful - so long as we get to be the ones choosing them (and when to use them) about ourselves. And they usually need clarifying, because everyone means something a bit different by each one. Thus is dialogue stimulated (or near equivalent... )

[Jamie D]

My hometown is Baltimore where one might claim, we invented crab cakes, in Atlanta, Coca-Cola was invented but that hardly qualifies these places, or Boston, as globally trend-setting cities. Sorry. 


As an academic, a published writer, and a researcher, all of my opinions can be backed up with evidence. In this case, here is my source for San Francisco being one of the top seven trend-setting cities. You might notice that California is the only state with two trend-setting cities. Of course, not every trend starts here, just many of them perhaps even most. (US anyway)

http://www.henrikvejlgaard.com/Images/NewslMedia.pdf

I also found this but the source is not academic:

Freeways (Los Angeles) Long Island Expressway, 1908; Autobahn, Germany, 1932
Raves (Los Angeles) London, 1950s; Techno, London, 1980s
Indoor shopping malls (Los Angeles / OC) Southdale Center, Edina, Minn
Drive-thrus (Los Angeles / OC) Red's Giant Hamburg, Springfield, Mo
Surf rock (OC)
West Coast hip-hop (Long Beach / Oakland)
Modern theme parks (Anaheim) Santa Claus Land, Indiana, 1946
Movies* (Hollywood) Louis Lumiere, France, 1895
Conservation zoos (San Diego) Durrell Wild Animal Park, Jersey, UK
Martinis and Irish coffees (San Francisco) Irish Coffee, Shannon Airport, Ireland
Jeans (San Francisco)
Fortune cookies (San Francisco)
Psychedelic music (San Francisco) Byrds, Eight Miles High; 13th Floor Elevators, Texas
Solar power (San Francisco) Silicon Solar Cell, R S Ohl, Bell Labs, NJ
Domestic partnership (San Francisco / West Hollywood)
LSD (Berkeley) Zandoz Laboratories, Switzerland, 1938
3-D animation (Emeryville)
The Internet* (Silicon Valley) Leonard Kleinrock, MIT, 1961; certainly not Albert Gore
iPods (Silicon Valley)

SNIP

[Ave]

link?

[Flan]

Since there's a general lack of civility (especially about debating the argument, not the opponent) I'm locking this thread.

[Arch]

As an academic, a published writer, and a researcher, all of my opinions can be backed up with evidence.

Um, just for the record, I've run into quite a few published academic works that lied or fabricated or took extreme liberties or just plain got it wrong. There is plenty of shoddy scholarship in the world, some of it intentional and some of it quite intentional. And the grander or more sweeping your claims, the more evidence people are going to want. In such cases, a handful of anecdotal evidence doesn't quite cut it.

One nice thing about this site is that we can receive kudos for accomplishments that tend to come harder to trans people than to cis people. That kind of positive reinforcement is one thing Susan's Place is meant to offer. But how people say things is at least as important as what they say. We all (yes, including me) say unfortunate things from time to time, but we should all be mindful of tone and should try not to say things in ways that prompt hostile responses. When people get annoyed, they often become uncivil, and threads get locked.

Note: I have altered my original message to make it less personal and less confrontational; please accept my apologies if the original came across as obnoxious. I don't know whether I have succeeded in my revision, but I have tried.