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Cis is hostile terminology? Really?

Started by Shana A, June 29, 2009, 08:46:32 AM

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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. 
FIGHT APATHY!, or don't...
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NicholeW.

Quote from: tekla on July 01, 2009, 12:03:10 AM
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.
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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.
FIGHT APATHY!, or don't...
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NicholeW.

Quote from: tekla on July 01, 2009, 12:08:21 AM
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?
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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.
FIGHT APATHY!, or don't...
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NicholeW.

Quote from: tekla on July 01, 2009, 12:18:36 AM
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.

:laugh: 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! :laugh: 
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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.
FIGHT APATHY!, or don't...
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Shana A

Quote from: Alyssa M. on June 30, 2009, 11:13:38 PMI 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
"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." Oscar Wilde


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Alyssa M.

Quote from: Zythyra on July 01, 2009, 06:28:36 AMAre 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.
All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

   - Anatole France
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Shana A

Quote from: Alyssa M. on July 01, 2009, 01:00:58 PM
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
"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." Oscar Wilde


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