Cis is hostile terminology? Really?

[tekla]

No, but you do like sometimes to claim that you are.

Hey, if its working for you, why change?  I'm sure if I took a vote here....
Post Merge: July 01, 2009, 12:04:41 AM
Oh yeah, as slurs, most surely they have been and are used in exactly, and precisely that way. 

[NicholeW.]

No, but you do like sometimes to claim that you are.

Hey, if its working for you, why change?  I'm sure if I took a vote here....
Post Merge: June 30, 2009, 11:04:41 PM
Oh yeah, as slurs, most surely they have been and are used in exactly, and precisely that way. 

I've heard "trans" used as a slur, but never "cis" or kiss.

[tekla]

Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right - Ani De Franco.

So is every word, if you use it right.  Or wrong.

[NicholeW.]

Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right - Ani De Franco.

So is every word, if you use it right.  Or wrong.

Yes, the "tone" argument was used there as well. Although, as I recall, at the time the offense offended the only culprit had been the diary writer, the one who said the "tone" she had used was offensive.

Like I said, not saying there aren't better terms just waiting to be coined and used enough to supercede those two current usages. But, "tone?"

If I object to my "tone" in a post I can certainly go back and rewrite it without demanding that everyone else stop using the term that I had the "tone" problem with. Right?

[tekla]

Works for me.  Though, as a caution, no one has ever rewrote anything because of my eternal truth beaming down on them like midday in the Sahara.

[NicholeW.]

Works for me.  Though, as a caution, no one has ever rewrote anything because of my eternal truth beaming down on them like midday in the Sahara.

Most of the rest of us aren't yet bright enough in shining eternal truth even as hotly as a flashlight might do. I think we don't re-write when you beam down on us because we are too busy trying to pull our coats over our heads to shade ourselves from the high magnitude brightness and heat of your personal sun, Kat!  

[tekla]

Nichole honey, when everyone knows that they are as smart as I am, then they will understand just how stupid they are.  And that, dear, is brilliance.

[Shana A]

I just go with whatever gender a person is presenting, and if it's ambiguous, I'll ask.

In order to make a living, my day to day presentation is that of my birth sex, not that I go out of my way to present as such. I often wear a mix of clothing, but am likely still gendered as male by others. I'm not immediately known as being trans unless I say that I am. So in that regard I have a certain amount of cis-privilege, however I am trans.

Many post ops (and pre-ops) blend in as their transitioned gender, and so also enjoy cis-privilege. Are they cis or trans? Both?

I don't actually have an issue w/ the use of the term in academic discourse, especially as a way to discuss privilege, however I still believe that it is flawed, and doesn't necessarily encompass the full range of gender possibilities.

Z

[Alyssa M.]

Are they cis or trans? Both?

I don't really care. I've lived most of my life in the closet about my gender issues, outwardly male, and yet I was trans the whole time. I don't assume.

Like I said, I'll use pronouns that match the presentation.

If you don't like cis and trans, do you have better terms? I think you are asking too much of these words. They are intended to contrast. Their existence doesn't preclude the use of other words. Words are shorthand for experiences -- they are always problematic.

[Shana A]

If you don't like cis and trans, do you have better terms? I think you are asking too much of these words. They are intended to contrast. Their existence doesn't preclude the use of other words. Words are shorthand for experiences -- they are always problematic.

Actually, I don't mind the terms, they make sense for academic use. For my own life, I really don't like labels at all, but use them as appropriate to explain who I am in something less than book length 

Z