mightybearfalconlives:
thewifeandwife:
Why I hate the term “Cis”
First off, an explanation of my basic understanding of /Cis/ /Cisgender/ and /Cissexual/ …
- /Cisgender/ - Basically a match between the gender you were born with and your identity.
- /Cissexual/ - Loosely meaning NOT trans.
- /Cis/ - From my…
And might I add that anybody who gets red-zone enraged over being called “cis” is both proving the point and aiding to the problem. Basically, if people think simply being called “cis” is worse than cissexism and the violent and oppressive shit that cispeople inflict on transpeople all the damn time, they have a problem.
i agree. the original post is really long and really angry and i, for one, am getting upset with the number of ~cis allies~ who are angry at trans people for how we choose to express our anger on the internet, and i am upset regardless of whether or not these people are our friends, partners, past partners, or spouses.
trans people experience the brunt of cissexism and gender essentialism, both as it is institutionalized and as it is perpetuated by individuals; and sometimes when we get angry we might say we “hate cis people” - but we are not attacking you personally; we’re upset about the institution that you are a part of. if you actually think that we’re attacking you at the individual level when we post things about hating cis people, your arrogance and self-centeredness are illustrative of your privilege (your belief that your feelings matter more than ours in this context and that you deserve to be listened to over us), and it co-creates and re-creates this entire problem.
i feel like it’s been being said around tumblr all the time recently (three individual links there), but it’s possible to hate an oppressive group in general without hating all of its individual members.
some of us are mad oppression exists. some of us are just mad about the oppression we personally experience. we’re all at different places along the learning curve, as well as the healing curve, and as much as i believe the internet is important it’s also not the same to rant here as it is to perpetuate interpersonal violence in real time and space. many of us who rant here about cis people are overly kind to cis people in our daily lives, even after being asked invasive questions time and time again. we need a place to voice our frustration. we need a place to build trans-oriented community and dialogue.
as to the phrase “die cis scum”, i had a really useful and productive conversation with a white trans woman friend of mine about this the other day. basically i said to her i didn’t like the phrase and she said to me, basically, “at the end of the day, it’s just a phrase. imagine actually implementing a practice where trans people actually tried to kill off cis people? it wouldn’t even last a day. we’re such a small (percentage wise) and vulnerable (social capital wise) part of the population that we’d get squashed in hours.” so really “die cis scum” is primarily at expressing our outrage at the system (cis-tem) of cis oppression, that is systematic, institutionalized, pervasive cissexism that we cannot simply escape even in forming loving communities, partnering with people who care about us, reading affirming things online, etc. because as soon as we step back out into society, we’re reminded of our lower class status, our less-than-humanness.
if you are more angry with seeing trans people express their anger than you are that the “cis-tem” exists, i don’t even really have words for you at this point. allies don’t get cookies; my partners who have dated me don’t get high-fives for being decent human beings (we wouldn’t be together if they were anything less); it’s just their/your duty. obviously when we’re complaining about cis people and you do your best to smash the cis-tem (as an “ally”) then we’re not talking about you.
although, after a reaction like this from you… maybe we are talking about you.
