I saw an odd phrase today in a missive calling for attacks upon the “hetero-cis-patriarchy.”
The meaning of the words “hetero” and “patriarchy” I understand.
But “cis”? And a hyphenated cis? That was a new one for me, so I googled. Sure enough, there is such a word, and while it seems to be recently invented, its use is already in established use in certain circles. This gem is as good an example as any:
Dismantling the Patriarchy in Videogames
This is a blog to address all the sexism, racism and homophobia in Videogames, with a strong emphasis on Anita Sarkeesian’s groundbreaking research. If you’re looking to bitch that I’m attacking your favorite hobby, you can fuck right off. Your dominance in this industry is numbered.
March232013
Hetero, cis, white men are the single most disgusting type of people that could possibly exist. There is no greater conceivable blight that could be placed on humanity because you are blight incarnate. With the social clout you have left over from your two thousand year reign of terror, you greedily and desperately attempt to mold our changing world back into your hideous image. Like the reactionaries who fought the rise of the liberal democracy, you win some victories, but for every step backwards, you must endure two forward to the light.
Yeah, I know. That doesn’t really define cis. But cis — in the sense of cisgender — is thoroughly explained at Wiki:
Cisgender and cissexual (often abbreviated to simply cis) describe related types of gender identity where an individual’s self-perception of their gender matches the sex they were assigned at birth.[1] Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook define cisgender as a label for “individuals who have a match between the gender they were assigned at birth, their bodies, and their personal identity,” complementing transgender.[2]
There are a number of derivatives of the terms in use, including cis male for a male with a male gender identity, cis female for a female with a female gender identity, cissexism and cissexual assumption. In addition, certain scholars have begun to use the term cisnormativity, akin to the queer studies’ heteronormativity.[3][4] A related adjective is gender-normative; Eli R. Green has written that “‘cisgendered’ is used [instead of the more popular ‘gender normative’] to refer to people who do not identify with a gender diverse experience, without enforcing existence of a ‘normative’ gender expression.”[5]
OK, got that?
Here’s the supposed origin:
Cisgender has its origin in the Latin-derived prefix cis-, meaning “on this side of,” which is an antonym for the Latin-derived prefix trans-, meaning “across from” or “on the other side of”. This usage can be seen in the cis-trans distinction in chemistry, the cis-trans or complementation test in genetics, and in the ancient Roman term Cisalpine Gaul (i.e., “Gaul on this side of the Alps“). In the case of gender, cis- is used to refer to the alignment of gender identity with assigned sex.
Naturally, there is not only cissexism, but cisnormativism:
Serano also uses the related term cissexism, “which is the belief that transsexuals’ identified genders are inferior to, or less authentic than, those of cissexuals.”[21] While having been used by trans activists for some time,[22][23] the term “cisgender privilege” has recently appeared in academic literature and is defined there as the “set of unearned advantages that individuals who identify as the gender they were assigned at birth accrue solely due to having a cisgender identity.”[24]
Cissexism and cisnormativism, by the way, are everywhere. Especially at cissexist hangouts like McDonalds:
Today I went to McDonalds with my genderqueer non-binary friend. I had a Big Mac, strawberry milkshake and fries and xi had a salad and a water because xi is watching xir weight. We were sitting eating and shooting the shit and we overheard a little kid talking to his/her brother/sister (sorry I don’t know these kids’ gender identities – their mom called them boys but you can never be too sure, and considering the cissexist bullshit that was about to come out of this woman’s mouth, i wouldn’t be surprised if they were girls)
Kid B (the younger one) says to Kid A, “you’re a lesbian!” and quick as a flash, their mother says, “Boys can’t be lesbians, eat your hamburger.”
I MEAN WHAT THE FUCK?! This is so problematic! I almost jumped over the table and punched that bitch in the ear. I mean SO MANY THINGS WRONG with what she said to the poor kid. Boys CAN be lesbians if they identify as lesbians. I have a number of cis male lesbian friends. She was erasing their entire lived experiences with such a small statement. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The kid was like five years old. How does she know that the kid wouldn’t grow up to identify as a lesbian! Scumbags like this are why I firmly believe cis scum bitches should keep their legs closed and quit breeding. Fuck the cis hetero patriarchy!
Bigots who want to be the same genders as the sexes they were born with must be destroyed!
(Who needs satire when reality is so much fun?)
Comments
6 responses to “Attention all cisgendered readers!”
I’m calling academic fraud. This is nonsense and they need to be called out on it.
I don’t care what delusions you subscribe to, but don’t expect me to buy into it.
This seems eerily reminiscent of the noise liberation movement in 1930’s Germany.
the gay community like any other community has it scisms. after stonewall in 1969 the gay establishment tried to make those who were actuall participents of stonewall disapear as they took over the movement it wasn’t gay establishment who fought and beat the police but street gay boys who lived in park transvestites drag queens and yes shock and horror lesbian bull dykes! it was butch lesbian marylin foweler who started fighting back then a drag queen hit a cop with her purse. if you read establishment gay male literature about stonewall they either leave marylin fowler out or say it was a rumor and pretend it was a gay white establishment male who started the history making resistence not some dyke! so politics are everywhere!
Xe is assuming the mother is a cissexual woman. How presumptuous.
Excellent point, Stan.
I think this particular labeling problem comes from maniacal trans activists, who are not merely self-absorbed and self obsessed, but who see almost everyone else as some sort of threat to their confused (and infinitely confusing) views of themselves. Many of them are highly intelligent academicians drawn to Gender Theory and Gender Studies, and they have constructed an elaborate hall of mirrors. A never-never land in which everyone is oppressive and wrong except them. The idea that you — like most people — might simply want to be left alone to live your own life is itself seen as threatening.
What I think is going on is that they want attention. And if they don’t get it, they’ll demand it.
Unfortunately, ignoring people who demand attention does not make them go away.
[…] Attention all cisgendered readers! If the UK and US governments believe that tactics like this are going to deter or intimidate us in any way from continuing to report aggressively on what these [Snowden] documents reveal, they are beyond deluded. If anything, it will have only the opposite effect: to embolden us even further. Beyond that, every time the US and UK governments show their true character to the world — when they prevent the Bolivian President's plane from flying safely home, when they threaten journalists with prosecution, when they engage in behavior like what they did today — all they do is helpfully underscore why it's so dangerous to allow them to exercise vast, unchecked spying power in the dark. — Glenn Greenwald […]
I can identify as a dwarf all I want, but at the end of the day, I’m still six and a half feet tall.