LGBT

I think people being categorized into racial and gender groups by other people in society should generally get to self-determine what they are called, named, or labeled.

The cis term to me has many negative connotations. It is pronounced like the hissing sound, which in our society and many others is the signal of mass hatred and derision. It is sounded the same as “sis”, the short form of sister which has been used as “sissy” as a term widely used to denigrate all females and many males. There are also associations in plumbing I won’t go into.

If I were charged with dreaming up or finding a name to call people whose gender at birth continued as their self-identification gender in later years, I would definitely not nominate anyththing with the prefix cis.

Academics seem sometimes to be somewhat insular in these matters. There was surprise and shock among many academics when so many people they were blanket-labeling as Latinx let it be known that they considered themselves Hispanic, for one, and definitely not Latinx.

Maybe we should just follow the basic rule of good manners: ask people what they want to be called and don’t make up or attribute names to them based upon your own convenience.

This person who minted the cisgender term certainly had no idea that it would be picked up by so many years later and I don’t think he has any personal responsibility in the matter.