The case against 'cis'

Calling yourself non binary throws women under the bus but it also makes you super right on and more of a victim in the privilege hierarchy.... Win win.

I don't believe in souls, or gender identity. I despise gender stereotypes. I call myself a woman because that is the biological reality in my case. How other choose to label their social roles or personalities is up to them - surely there should be as many labels as individuals.

Linguistically cis- indicates a place this side of something, while trans- is the other side. Think Cisjordania and Transylvania. The implication could be that the transwoman has completed a journey and the ciswoman hasn't - that she is somehow inferior, incomplete or lacking. Like many concepts and arguments in the current gender debate, the label cis- makes no sense if you analyse it rationally.

As soon as I hear 'cis women', I know women are about to be blamed for something or told to be quiet.

If you're a feminist and a vocal trans rights advocate (like many of the Women's March organisers seem to be), using 'cis' gives you the excuse to mentally disengage from everything you know about sex-based oppression, and, instead, characterize women as a group of oppressors.

I actually don't like non-binary. I can see why some do but if I acknowledge one person is non-binary, then surely we ALL are? I have a fb friend who is non-binary. I wince every time she talks about it, because it still feels to me like she's saying 'I'm not stereotypically female and if you call yourself a woman then you are.' It feels too similar to cis. It is saying loudly that a woman = not just what sex you are but what you like in life (pink, dolls, cooking).

This is exactly how I feel. It would be so easy to ID as non-binary, but it feels like throwing other women under the bus.

So there is an issue that the language has been created by people who have a certain feeling and they have assumed that everyone has this feeling. But, they don't.

@UpaBitLate brilliant awesome post.

I suspect the problem with gender non conforming, is that while many trans people suffer discrimination for that reason, it conflicts with the belief that trans people are conforming with their innate gender.

Being cis means being not trans.

And this what I object to.

Being a woman is a category for 50-51% of the world's population. It is a biological reality.

Yet you propose defining women by what they are not You can fuck off with that.

WOMEN ARE NOT JUST AN EMPTY CATEGORY FOR PATRIARCHY TO PROJECT ITS FANTASIES INTO.

It doesn't say what I am it says what I am not. I am not a non trans or a non man.

Yes, this!

I need a word for a Radult Human Female though ...

I detest this whole ‘assigned gender at birth’ stuff. That to me implies there was a doctor with a clipboard umming and ahhing. I wasn’t assigned a gender at birth, I came out female and they wrote that down accordingly. No one assigned it. It’s what I am.

And surely the argument against cis is that it is redundant. Certainly in respect of the “word which means not trans” definition. I don’t need a word saying I’m not something.

"But I don't feel like a woman, I just feel like me".
Me neither really.
If something fits, it doesn't feel like anything. It's only uncomfortable
things that you can feel strongly enough to notice

Or maybe you just follow the definition of things and don't go ascribing other nonsense to a word that defines sex like gender?

I accepted the argument you made in the past and then people who did feel like me started calling themselves non binary or pan gender and I just realise it all falls down.

I don't need a word for "not transexual" like I don't need a word for not transracial.

It doesn't say what I am it says what I am not. I am not a non trans or a non man.

I am a heterosexual and we would still be debating the word if we called straight people "not homosexuals" instead of heterosexual.

Cis is an unnecessary word. Woman is the word that defines a human female adult. It's just another insult by TRAs to try and make women budge over and acknowledge that trans women are something special. They're really not.

I don't identify as Cis, therefore I'm not. QED.

Someone on here once said "I don't have a gender. I have a sex and a personality."

This.

Someone on here once said "I don't have a gender. I have a sex and a personality."

Sums it up, I think.

If gender is all on a spectrum, what does one trans from and to? Isn’t the admission of non-binary a sign that it’s all a nonsense. Because non binary can’t exist in a binary system. I feel like (surprisingly) this is not a logical system, and people just got to pick the words they liked best to describe their inner feelings...

Totally agree Thisusernamethingistricky

Cis is pure sexism in my opinion and I will be damned if I will allow men to define woman or a woman's reality. They have been doing that for to long already. I understand I take a hard line on it but I am sick of being told that as a woman I must acquiesce as I am responsible for men's feelings. I don't have a ladybrain, I don't conform to sexist stereotypes, my supposed gender does not determine me. Cis is a means to justify women's continued oppression as it claims we identify with things like the second shift that the external source of our oppression (patriarchy) is a natural response to an innate gender.

Elizabeth Hungerford has written a good article on it - liberationcollective.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/a-feminist-critique-of-cisgender/

Rebecca Reilly-Cooper has written another good article on it: rebeccarc.com/2014/08/04/am-i-cisgender/

Seer I too may be misunderstanding, but I think Datun means you can't take away from women's rights. As a woman, you have those first, therefore are entitled to entry to a shelter. As a GNC woman, you cannot be discriminated again (I guess, not given a job in engineering because you wear twinsets and pearls, for example?) But your women's rights stand, regardless of your being GNC or not.

I think that's right?!

It seems that 'non-binary' is only 'acceptable' when it fits into the trans agenda. So people like Travis Alabanza, who is the ultimate 'dude in a dress' but claims to be non binary so that he can use whichever chancing room he feels like that day.

Saying you are non binary because you don't have a gender identity because you don't believe in gender, wouldn't get you listened to because it goes against the trans dogma, which is basically men should be able to do whatever the fuck they want.

I really resent having 'cis' imposed upon me.

People can now choose from a range of different gender terms = fine with me. I grew up in the days of people saying 'I'm not gay, I'm normal' so this feels like a lot of progress to me.

But calling me 'cis' not 'woman' takes any choice away from me. How many times has this sort of thing happened in history? A group of people being renamed not by choice.

I will probably be called illogical and privileged though.

I actually don't like non-binary. I can see why some do but if I acknowledge one person is non-binary, then surely we ALL are? I have a fb friend who is non-binary. I wince every time she talks about it, because it still feels to me like she's saying 'I'm not stereotypically female and if you call yourself a woman then you are.' It feels too similar to cis. It is saying loudly that a woman = not just what sex you are but what you like in life (pink, dolls, cooking).

I played with boys toys as a child. I watched Batman. I liked getting muddy and doing tricks on my bike. I also loved dolls, ballet and babies. Surely everyone was like that to some degree or is as an adult. None of us are 100% stereotypically anything.

I think it's wrong to conflate the issues facing gay people with those facing trans people.

If people objected to being called straight that was different. Sexual orientation is innate. It's part of who you are. Gay people were fighting for basic rights - the same healthcare as straight people, the ability to marry, etc etc. They seemingly weren't even considered human - they were treated appallingly.

Trans people already have the same rights as everyone else. Being transgendered isn't a sexual orientation. It's a mental illness. It's a dysphoria (literally a profound sense of unease. An inner, private feeling.) I can sympathise enormously with anyone suffering a dysphoria, I can want people who experience such things to be safe and well and happy, but the fact that they suffer it doesn't have to have any bearing on my own identity, especially when it involves a part of my identity which puts me at risk in life (of rape and sexual assault, etc). I don't relabel myself on the basis that someone else has depression or anorexia or wishes they were taller.

I hate cis. I feel very stereotypically feminine. My interests are stereotypically female. I still hate cis though. It's so insulting. The older I get the more angry I am about what women go through. It makes me rage. So on that level I'm not satisfied with saying my gender identity matches my sex. Like fuck it does. Gender is an awful concept which allows women to be oppressed. I don't submit to being treated badly because of gender.