to think Mumsnet should delete posts in which women are called cis

[violetsarentblue]

I (and I imagine quite a lot of women on here) are fed up with being referred to as cis. I find the term deeply insulting.
I'm a woman and prefer to be addressed as a 'woman', not a cis woman.

I noticed MN are quick to delete posts where transgender people are called 'he' instead of 'she', because that group of people find the term insulting and MN don't want to offend.

Generally we delete posts in which people persistently refuse to refer to people by the pronoun (he/she; him/her) by which they’ve asked to be referred, out of respect for that individual’s wishes.

Please - could we have the same depth of consideration for our wishes?

Thank you.

Me too Reiltin. If, in the context of discussing gender identity, it's helpful or relevant I do refer to myself as cisgender. If someone else finds that term offensive when applied to them, I'll try not to use it because that's polite. If I repeatedly call someone cis despite them asking me not to, that's rude and I don't mind if MNHQ delete my post. Why are we debating this? It all seems perfectly straightforward to me.

I've seen this term around for a while. I meet the definition of cis woman, and I can't say it would bother me to be referred to as such.

Thanks howto

That is how cis was pronounced in I am Kate, so American accent.

Why does everything have to have a label, why can't people just be.

yanbu op

I have now looked it up to see what it means, having never come across it on MN or anywhere else. I suspect that it will still pass me by- it just seems rather unfortunate for the 80 something year old woman I know who is called Cis. It is unfortunate how language changes.

It bothers me because I am a woman, and I don't need, and very definitely don't like being told I need another label tyvm.

I have now looked it up to see what it means, having never come across it on MN or anywhere else. I suspect that it will still pass me by- it just seems rather unfortunate for the 80 something year old woman I know who is called Cis. It is unfortunate how language changes.

I doubt she'll ever know, it will almost certainly pass most of us by.

I have no problem with the word and find it useful. But then I'm a liberal.

I can't imagine that she will.
I have just seen another thread on MN about it but it was one that I wouldn't normally have noticed or clicked on.

YANBU.

I have seen this used in an insulting way on MN. The poster repeatedly used it to refer to another poster despite being asked many times not as she found it insulting. There was no need to use the term cis in their posts they just did so to be nasty.

Women/woman will do. There is no need for extra description and that word should not be given the power to be used as an insult.

whats cis mean i know someone explained above but its totally wooshed over my head :/

"Denoting or relating to someone whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex. Compare with transgender."

That is the definition in the Oxford English Dictionary.

As a lesbian can I ask people to stop talking about the LGBT community in this thread?

Lesbians have been chucked right under the bus by the trans movement taking over our identities and spaces. I don't want to be linked with them.

I think this thread shows that it would be great if the trans community had more of a voice. The idea that there is some sinister trans lobby wanting to relabel women is just so wrong. Trans people realise that gender as a social construct is separate from biological sex - that's why they think that they are free to adopt a different gender. It's the exact opposite of saying that gender follows from biological sex, which is what some posters here seem to think it means. We are all free to adopt whatever gender we wish and to interpret that gender as we wish. If you want to identify as a woman, I guarantee that no trans person will deny you that right. If you are a biological woman but you feel that the female gender doesn't fit you (which is what some people on here seem to be saying), no trans person is going to say you have to be considered female nonetheless. In fact, they're fighting for your right not to be considered female if you for want to. However, there are people in the world who identify with the gender associated with a biological sex. Having a term for that population is not offensive IMO. It is not the same thing as having someone decide your identity - again, trans people are not going to call you cis because of your biological sex. They are going to assign the label on the basis of your preferred gender identity - which, to stress, is entirely your choice. There is no sense in which the label cis is forcing a label into people - it's highlighting the fact that we all have a choice.

By the by, wrt to traditional gender roles, my dh cross dresses sometimes, but this does not affect the fact that he is a biological male or identifies with the male gender. Honestly, the people who are most accepting and understanding of this fact are the people who are trans or trans allies. It's the people who insist that gender has to follow biological sex and are allergic to the label cis who he and I feel wary of, from sad past experience.

Lockthetaskbar thank you for putting into words how I have felt my whole life.

I'm sure the last thousand times it was used, it was either somebody saying they didn't like it or somebody saying they didn't mind in reply.

And it is a proper 'medical'/'official' word used by many, including The F-word feminist's blog.

I don't want a label.

What does it feel like to be a woman?

I was born female and my personality is unique to me. I have traits which are both stupidly associated to women and men. I don't feel like a woman, I feel like me. I am a woman because I was born that way and I don't want to be put into stupid boxes to describe me. I am female but I identify as just me.

Thankfully in the real word Cis woman said no one ever.

Jello, I don't think anyone on here is saying gender follows from biological sex.

They're saying they don't have any gender identity and just have their biological sex.

Like I have size seven feet. I don't personally identify as a size seven feet person. Those are just the feet I happen to have.

As a lesbian can I ask people to stop talking about the LGBT community in this thread?

Lesbians have been chucked right under the bus by the trans movement taking over our identities and spaces. I don't want to be linked with them

Was just about to say the same thing. On another thread MNHQ rejected the idea of a trans topic as there are already 2 LGBT topics. The issues are not the same. Personally I'd be happier if the LGB community and the T community parted ways. That's not to say that I don't support T rights, just not when they are in direct conflict with my own.

What's a CIS woman?

Cis is not a neutral describer used only and simply to differentiate between transgender people and people who are not transgender.

Cis is a politically loaded term which is, on the whole, being used by men to define women. In my book, this makes it conservatively patriarchal. Yes, I know it is used to describe men too but I don't see it used to define them ( and most certainly not by women because we do not have that power).

Cis is not a simple word - it refers to a complex set of beliefs and a world view. More and more cis is used on its own so it is easy to forget that it is shorthand for cisgender and cisgender goes hand in hand with cisprivilege. Both of these terms are used in order to gaslight girls and women into believing that we have sex related privilege and that makes us oppressors in male dominated society. This concept is clearly ridiculous but it is very very appealing to sexists as it is a new and deeply manipulative way to resist women's liberation and women's rights.

And this is why the transgender movement and agenda has gained so much traction and become mainstream. Not because society is progressive and liberal but because society is oppressive and conservative and transgenderism bolsters that. The T gets rid of the gay and redefines women in a way which defangs feminism and invisibleizes sex based structural oppression.

Hence why lots of women are paying attention to the issue, an issue which on first impression seems pretty marginal. Same goes for a lot of LGB people, many of whom are stating that they want to "drop the T" as they say it is at opposition with LGB values and is piggybacking the sexual orientation movement as a way to appeal to liberals and rightoners. Anyone who pays much attention to internet feminism can attest to the same happening there, the T movement is making feminism about transgenderism ( despite the basic tenets of the two being poles apart).

So cis may seem like an innocent innocuous word but it really really isn't. This whole thing strikes me as having many parallels with an abusive relationship, indeed it is like an abusive relationship on a grand scale - cis is the beginning and then things escalate. So women who currently are happy to embrace cis, that is your prerogative but please keep your radar on because you are ok just now with giving what is being presented to you as inch but that inch is actually a misogynistic mile.