Explaining why 'cis' is offensive

[dianebrewster]

Just mulling over the whole thing after a comment on the thread about the Irish author being mauled on Twitter......how do you explain why you reject 'cis' ? etc

I lived in Dublin for a year in 1981-2; went up to NI a lot, The Troubles still very much ongoing. I was doing field work for my MA in the Jewish community in Ireland. I was told a joke about a Jew being stopped by a gang of armed men at the border. Demanding to know who he was, was he Catholic or Protestant? He replied he was a Jew, "but are ye a Catholic Jew or a Protestant Jew?".

I was brought up Catholic (left it 30yrs ago) but had family members who very much saw the the world as Catholic vs Protestant - ie everyone who wasn't a Catholic fell into the category of Protestant.

The TRAs insisting on the trans / cis division, for me, is like asking an atheist whether they're a Catholic or Protestant. I reject the very basis of the original belief system. I cant be Catholic or Protestant because I'm not a Christian, I can't be trans or Cis because I don't believe in gender identity.

Does that make sense to anyone other than me? 🤨

Everything JCJ has to say for those interested in the feminist angle. But in really basic terms without going into the deeper reasons:

I have absolutely no problem with people assigning to themselves whatever labels and definitions and statements of political belief and categorisation that they wish to.

They do not get to impose labels or anything else on others. Particularly ones that compel participation in beliefs that person may not hold. That's plain disrespectful and unacceptable. Hence the expressed importance of not using words you might choose yourself but are not the preferred choice of a trans person.

Therefore to insist on doing it suggests a belief of superiority and authority over an inferior, and a right to control them. Which is obviously unacceptable. So either this applies equally to all as a value and gesture of mutual respect, or no one at all. If someone insists on using words for me that I have not chosen and do not agree with or identify as then obviously I shall feel free to do the same.

I lived in Dublin for a year in 1981-2; went up to NI a lot, The Troubles still very much ongoing. I was doing field work for my MA in the Jewish community in Ireland. I was told a joke about a Jew being stopped by a gang of armed men at the border. Demanding to know who he was, was he Catholic or Protestant? He replied he was a Jew, "but are ye a Catholic Jew or a Protestant Jew?".

Off topic but I've heard that with the last line replaced by, "I must be the luckiest Palestinian in Ireland"

I agree with every word of your post though.

I'm tired of women having to justify why they don't want a rebrand to contextualise trans identities.

CIS is offensive because I'm offended by it, so don't fucking use it!

I'm having a furious day.

The problem with cis is that it is not my story. It is part of someone else's and it is being imposed on me.

I really like this way of putting it.