π #LGBTQ+ #Cisgender #Heterosexual #Labels
Have you ever wondered why some people get all bent out of shape when they hear the word “cisgender,” yet have no problem identifying as heterosexual? π€ It’s a head-scratcher, right?
I mean, think about it – both terms are just labels used to describe people who fall within the normative spectrum. So why the double standard?
Maybe it’s because one term is more commonly understood and accepted than the other. Or perhaps there’s a deeper underlying issue at play here.
Let’s chat about it! What do you think? Do you see a difference between the two labels? Sound off in the comments below! π¬#Gender #Sexuality #Identity #Inclusivity
Let’s dive into this together and try to unravel the mystery behind these reactions. Your insights and perspectives are valuable, so don’t be shy – share your thoughts! π
Because they’re so used to use gay or lesbian or trans as an insult that they think cis is a slur
Because homosexuality have already more or less been accepted as normal by western society. At this point trying to fight it directly is a lost cause (especially politically) so they will resort to dog whistle and other less obvious form of harrasement/discrimination (same as racisme and sexisme in general)
But trans rights is not. So reactionaries are fighting hard to prevent it from being accepted by the next generations. One of those battle (and probably one of the main ones) is language. If cisgender is accepted for what it is: then other vocabularies like transgender are also accepted as not slurs and simply a normal things to talk about
I think the same may have happened with heterosexual when the word first appeared. Many “normal” people hate any implication that they’re not as normal as they thought. If when they say trans (or gay, or anything else) they imply that someone’s weird, or there’s something wrong with them, or it’s undesirable, then they’d probably feel they’re being disrespected when given a comparable label.
i.e. the cis is a slur people say trans as a slur
If someone is correctly labeled *cisgender*, then that implies *transgender* can also be correctly labeled. It can be seen as adding normality to the concept of transitioning gender, and some folks are seriously upset over that. If these terms are slurs, then we can’t have conversations about trans issues anymore.
In addition, I think some of those folks also want to claim victimization. They see transpeople getting support when someone uses a slur against them, so even though *cisgender* isn’t a slur, they count it as that so they can justify being furious. “I’m not pissed because some dude wears a dress, I’m pissed because you used a slur against me! You’re the problem and I’m an innocent victim!”
βIβm normal. I donβt need a new term for being normal.β
The way i see it…
Heterosexual, and homosexual came out around the same time, in the 1800’s. It was in relation to same sex relationships (not today’s definition of gender.) People today accept them as normal, scientific / everyday words.
Cisgender was a recent word made just to be the opposite of transgender. So, right off the bat, it offends a lot of people for including them in the whole “gender identity” arguments.
I myself have seen it used in normal conversations, but more often than not, as a snide or derogatory comment toward others. “ignore them, they are cis” or as one person put it, if they aren’t queer, they were referred to as “a cis fucker” or “just another cis fuck”
People care too much about what other people say or thing. The people getting offended by words are the people who donβt do enough in life for it to matter at all
There’s a ton of people just guessing at what they think people they don’t like or udnderstand think. So you’re getting a whole ton of vague guesses that are probably incorrect for most people. Ofcourse, some of these guesses might be close for some folks, and even correct for others, but I feel like you’re not getting a proper answer.
I’m pretty left leaning for my country, and VERY left leaning for America, and personally I find Cis CAN be a slur so I’m probably one of the better people to answer at risk of being downvoted to oblivion.
For me it’s nothing to do with anything along the lines of “normal is normal, we don’t need a new word for normal” and has a lot more to do with the way some people use the term. It’s the negative connotations behind it, and their intent far more than the word itself. I’ll call myself cisgender on any medical exam, and if the question ever comes up I’ll answer honestly without taking offense. But some people, few in number, but loud in voice absolutely use cis as an insult, and I’ll take offense when those people use it. I’m assuming it’s some kind of clapback or moment of empowerment for them, and even though it pisses me off that they’ll attempt to antagonize potential or even current allies it won’t change my support for the trans folk. I just wish we could have conversations about this and stop pretending it’s exclusively far right, pro-control(anti-abortion), terfs who hate how some people use the term “cis”.
Ime a lot of people that say it’s a slur just don’t understand what it means. I hear the response “I’m not cis, I’m straight” or “my pronoun isn’t cis” in response to it, showing that they don’t get the meaning.
I thought it had a negative connotation because I happened upon seeing/learning it being used almost like an accusation, rather than discovering it educationally.
Otherwise, now that I know, I don’t care. But I get nervous when I hear it because of how I happened upon it.
I remember when I first saw the word being used on the Internet it was all cishets should die etc so I can see why people would see it as an insult. It’s better now and you don’t see it used the same way as much now but people most likely remember that.
Also I have never seen/heard the word used outside of internet discourse which might also confuse a lot of people
Because “cisgender” is often used like/as a slur.
I actually prefer the term βcontrol sampleβ to describe my sexuality and gender lol but yeah I donβt really care what people call my preferences.
Because they don’t know what an actual slur is and ***they’re dumb***.
Those terms feel kinda combative to me. Like we were marginalized, so weβre are going to make up a term that marginalizes majority of the population.
Itβs a category used predominantly by people not existing within that category. For those in that category it is an unnecessary categorisation.
My favorite color is red.
“You can only be light red or dark red!”
They did in the early to mid 2000s
“Im not ‘straight’ I’m ‘normal'” was the rallying cry of the homophobe
Just the latest cycles of assholes being assholes.
I donβt personally care myself, saying this as a preface. The way I see the whole thing is that if you expect someone to respect what you want to be called you should actively respect what they want or donβt want to be called too, it goes both ways of course, if someone identifies as something use their preferred name/gender and if someone dislikes being called cis/using the term than donβt use it, respect goes both ways and if you want something you should be able/willing to provide the same back for others.
Thereβs a massive amount of hypocrisy when you think you can label yourself whatever you feel like you are, and then in the same breath force a made up label on others.
Well, that would depend on what groups of people you’ve been exposed to…
There are people in existence whom use the word as a slur – most of the 20-30 yr olds at my work (a bar), for example. It’s a mild, bland, kind of an insult to them.. its a bit like calling someone “boring” or “dull” “beige” or “an accountant” or “normie” or something along those lines. That’s what it means to those people. They’re all proud of their various statuses/identities regarding being neurodivergent, not-entirely-hetrosexual, and gender non conforming, in some way or another.
Now, everyone in the world, including me, *and you*, *the reader*, has an exposure to other people that is both “very small” and “unique to your experience”. So, YMMV!
Edit: and the one fierce “trans activist” type person that we had on the team for a while definitely used it as a slur – for her, to call someone a “white cishet rich old male” was pretty much the worst insult she could imagine. Note that none of the other words in there are in fact “slurs”, and yet, was still able to use them as such. So again… its status as a slur depends on whom it’s being used by, and in what context.
It’s fascinating to me that your linkage is immediately “cisgender and heterosexual are both labels that describe normative people”.
And when you say “gender and sexuality aren’t the same thing, but they seem very similar”… um no, they are not “similar” because of their link to “normativity”. They are independent variables, in fact. Not related at all.
Sexuality is quite a clear thing – complicated yes, but with clear meaning.
The term gender, however, is the subject/topic of probably the fiercest culture war battles presently being fought.
I think most people are just getting fed up of labels, Iβve seen a lot of discourse from women and trans women especially. A lot of cis women donβt like the label because they feel it sorta takes away from their womanhood, which is valid ig. Women are simply just women, and lately more trans women have been dehumanizing everything women do to make it more inclusive. Like asking them to use the term chest feeding instead of breastfeeding, insisting that the side effects of hormones are the same as a period etc. The term cisgender definitely isnβt a slur thatβs so dramatic, but I agree it gets unnecessary and annoying.
I can say that 9/10 times I see the word βcisβ used itβs in a negative connotation so thatβs probably why.
Because people who donβt fall under those categories use cisgender as a way to describe someone in a negative way.
For example, let say Jameson Mcelephant over here is a nonbinary but their βfriendβ accidentally calls them a him or her, Jameson would respond with βHow dare you assume my gender you cis scum, check your privilegeβ and so on
Personally nearly everytime I’ve seen the word “cis” used it’s done in a context meant to be negative. The word itself isn’t an insult, but it practically gets used as one and I’m pretty sure that’s why some people have a problem with it. I’m not going to go as far as to call it a slur though.
* cisgender is quite commonly used as a slur and many people first time hear about that word whne used in such way,
* it’s a new term people are not used to,
* thanks to the upper two points, many people don’t know or don’t recognise it’s meaning,
* people don’t feel they need it,
* vast majority of people using this term are non-cis people, so it’s label ”from the outside”,
* unless you live in English speaking world, this term is enforcing foreign terminology
They did have a knee-jerk reaction to being called heterosexual back in the day, it’s just that after gay marriage was accepted the assholes behind the trans panic needed to find a new scapegoat. Bigots always recycle their bullshit.
Because cis sounds like cyst. Itβs a disgusting sounding word. Who wants to be an angry pus filled boil ready to pop?
I wouldn’t call it a slur. “I don’t want to be associated with the whole gender topic so leave me out of this” would describe my stance better.
Because βcisgenderβ sounds like something filled with pus that needs to be drained with a needleβ¦ heterosexual soundsβ¦well, just descriptive.
It’s quite simple really. I don’t want to be labelled. I don’t need other people to validate who I am, nor do I want to make a big scene about my identity. I’m just me; I’m not “cis” or “trans” or anything else.
If you want to make a big fuss over it then by all means go ahead, but don’t expect me to react well to having the issue forced or shoved down my throat. Quite frankly I couldn’t care less. Go live your life and leave me the fuck alone.
The average person has far more important things to invest their time into that they actually care about. When you try and force them to support your side, the automatic default is to oppose you. When you then consider them to be against you because they’re not on your side and then treat them as opponents, that’s when you create a problem. Pissing off large amounts of people that don’t care either way is a sure fire way to be marginalised and opposed quite quickly.
I find it annoying because cis/trans has a scientific meaning and applying it to gender because it happens to be the opposite of trans in an irrelevant context to sound sciency when you’re being political is misleading. plus it sounds like the insult “sissy” which is likely the point.
an accurate neutral term would be “mode gender” since it’s the most frequent presentation or “matched gender” since it’s matches biology.
what nobody likes is being assigned a label instead of choosing it themselves
I think most cis people do not feel that they identify with their biological sex. I personally don’t feel any sort of way about it. I am a woman, whatever I think or feel is irrelevant because there’s no wrong way to be a woman. Saying someone is cisgender makes it seem like there is an active thought or intention behind that identification, which there is not. It’s more that we have an absence of gender dysphoria.
Funny how you ask that question but any genuine answer will probably get highly downvoted. So I don’t see a point in even answering since I know I will get attacked by left extremists.
It seems that a lot of people here are thinking that βcisβ is something akin to gay or straight, an identity. Itβs really not that, itβs a neutral descriptor of whether or not you have changed your gender. Thatβs all it is. Itβs not forcing you to play a hand in gender politics, or whatever youβre afraid of. In fact, it signifies that you are not trans, and that is the only thing the word does. It is fine.
I donβt consider it a βslurβ however I hate being called it. The definition of cisgender is βsomeone whose internal sense of gender corresponds with the sex the person was identified as having at birthβ
As someone who doesnβt have an internal sense of gender I find it really insulting. Iβm what I am purely due to my body, thereβs no internal aspect to it. Being called cis implies that gender is this spiritual concept which you can somehow feel, which isnβt the case for the majority of people.
I have no issue with the heterosexual label because it doesnβt imply anything about the individuals view on sexuality or the soul beyond the fact they are attracted to the opposite sex (or same, in the case of homosexual.)
because people donβt accept the idea of trans people, whereas there was little doubt of the existence of gay people
Those people are not smart despite them thinking they are smarter than the rest.
If you are trying to get someone’s attention, just yell “Hey SHIT HEAD!” and they will know you are talking to them regardless of how they identify.
I donβt like either, tbh. Donβt call people things they donβt want to be called. Simple as that
Ignorance.
I am a heterosexual. I’m a male attracted to females.
I’m not a cisgender. I don’t believe gender is real because there is no definition of man or woman gender and I don’t feel any gender on my insides.
They don’t like the idea that they aren’t just “normal” anymore, as opposed to the “weird” trans people. The idea that a trans person somewhere might not feel like they’re a freak in the eyes of society for one moment of their lives is so enraging to them that they grasp at straws to fuel their own victim narrative.
Who fucking knowsβ¦ itβs like those mouth breathers that say shit like βMY PRONOUNS ARE LIBERTY/FREEDOM!!!!!β
Self-victimization