![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Apr. 13th, 2019 06:36 pmwritten in response to this thread, put here for archiving (?) purposes
that’s because of a flaw in the way trans & nb people look at and conceive of gender. it runs something like this
trans people have always fought really hard against the idea that everyone is their assigned gender, and that there are only two gender boxes. words like cis exist to denote people who are 1. binary gendered 2. identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.
this system is very simplistic and often falls apart. my go-to example is that of intersex people. when we talk about “cis” people as defined at the end of paragraph #2 we’re sort of assuming that we’re talking about “perisex” people (people who are not intersex) also, but some intersex people identify with the gender they were assigned at birth which is also a binary gender so...what kind of cis privilege does this person have?
(perisex is also not the most coherent category)
the point I’m getting at is that trans people took the male/female binary with a cis/trans&nb binary. and any binary that we attempt to establish is going to erase a whole lot of nuance and complexity. which I personally don’t like, but I also use the word cis constantly, because it’s easier. because it makes it easier to have the conversation I’m trying to have.
but sometimes trans people use “cis” to refer to people who haven’t really thought about gender and gender roles, which is just not true! cis lgbpa people think about gender and gender roles a lot. as do autistic and disabled people. as do people of color. these groups experience gender differently, and trying to slot them into cis/trans binary is going to leave a lot of people out of the narrative.
which is where experiences like yours come in, I imagine. I’ve used words like cisn’t and uncis to refer to people like this, but I would really like a better word.
the problem is that trans people tend to be very resistant to the idea that there are cis people who don’t fit the narrative of cisness that trans people have codified, as though trans people have any idea what the cis narrative of gender is.
that’s because of a flaw in the way trans & nb people look at and conceive of gender. it runs something like this
trans people have always fought really hard against the idea that everyone is their assigned gender, and that there are only two gender boxes. words like cis exist to denote people who are 1. binary gendered 2. identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.
this system is very simplistic and often falls apart. my go-to example is that of intersex people. when we talk about “cis” people as defined at the end of paragraph #2 we’re sort of assuming that we’re talking about “perisex” people (people who are not intersex) also, but some intersex people identify with the gender they were assigned at birth which is also a binary gender so...what kind of cis privilege does this person have?
(perisex is also not the most coherent category)
the point I’m getting at is that trans people took the male/female binary with a cis/trans&nb binary. and any binary that we attempt to establish is going to erase a whole lot of nuance and complexity. which I personally don’t like, but I also use the word cis constantly, because it’s easier. because it makes it easier to have the conversation I’m trying to have.
but sometimes trans people use “cis” to refer to people who haven’t really thought about gender and gender roles, which is just not true! cis lgbpa people think about gender and gender roles a lot. as do autistic and disabled people. as do people of color. these groups experience gender differently, and trying to slot them into cis/trans binary is going to leave a lot of people out of the narrative.
which is where experiences like yours come in, I imagine. I’ve used words like cisn’t and uncis to refer to people like this, but I would really like a better word.
