LGBTI Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans and Turkey

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Why transphobes hate the word ‘cis’

06 Oct

If we were to talk to transphobes, that is, people who strongly oppose the liberation of trans people, we would be very likely to hear that they strongly refuse to use the word’ cis’ (short for’ cisgender’) for those whose gender identity matches the one assigned at birth, that is, for those who are not transgender. The argument that they commonly use is that’ cis is a slur.’ Although I am deeply tempted to make a joke out of it and agree that telling someone that they are not trans is indeed an insult, I am more interested in diving deep into the reasoning why such a word causes such fury.

Transphobes hate the word’ cisgender’ for the same reason that homophobes hate the word’ heterosexual.’ Suppose we were to talk to a dedicated homophobe, someone strongly against gay people having the same rights as them (the right to get married, adopt children, etc.). In that case, we’ll notice that homophobes never describe their relationships or marriages as’ heterosexual.’ Because the dichotomy of’ homosexual’ and’ heterosexual’ (marriage) communicates through the language that we use that these are two different variations of marriage – something that is equally valid, something that deserves an equal amount of respect in a democratic society, or to be equally legally recognized. 

Homophobes do not want this. They don’t want gay people to have the same respect or legal recognition as they do, nor the same benefits that those things may bring: the right to get married, adopt children, start a family, use each other’s healthcare, raise a loan from a bank, buy a home, have the right to visit each other in the hospital in case of illness or inherit each other’s property in case of death.

However, I believe that in 2023. most of us have media training, and we can’ read the room’ and understand the aesthetics of saying certain things out loud. Therefore, I believe that many homophobes understand that saying out loud that they don’t want gay people to have the same rights as them makes them look really bad. So, a lot of the time, what homophobes will do is they’ll try to communicate those sentiments in a passive-aggressive way through what we might call dog whistles’.

Instead of using the word’ heterosexual,’ a homophobe is more likely to describe their relationship as a “normal traditional family.” That way, they get to set themselves as the default and subtly insinuate in a passive-aggressive manner that a homosexual relationship is not normal or based on tradition. Therefore, it’s not valid, and it does not deserve the same amount of respect in a democratic society, nor to be legally recognized under the law.

Transphobes feel the exact same way about the word’ cisgender.’ When we say that a woman can be’ cisgender’ and’ transgender,’ the language that presents these things as a dichotomy communicates that these are two different types of a woman – something that is equally valid; that these are two groups of people which deserve an equal amount of respect in a democratic society and equal recognition under law, like for example a trans woman being socially accepted and legally recognized as a woman, or a trans man being socially accepted and legally recognized as a man. Transphobes do not want this. They want these rights to remain exclusive for cisgender people. 

For example, transphobes who hide behind the euphemism’ gender critical feminists’ are very vocal that the right to bodily autonomy should remain exclusive for cis people. A lot of them hide behind (what appears to be) radical feminism and (seem to) support cis women’s right to make decisions about their bodies, like, for example, having the right to access hormone pills for contraception and abortion. However, they think that trans women (or trans men, who they consider to be women’) should not have the same right to make decisions about our bodies, for example, using the same hormone pills as hormone replacement therapy or accessing gender-affirming surgeries.

Another example is that many transphobes who claim to be radical feminists will support cis women’s rights to access rape crisis services, such as access to a safe house. Still, they’ll demand that this right is exclusive to cisgender rape victims. And they’ll try to demonize and ostracize from those places rape victims who are trans.

A lot of the time, homophobes and transphobes try to justify their cruelty towards us by demonizing LGBTIQ+ people and fear-mongering; so, for example, homophobes will claim to be against gay or lesbian couples adopting kids,’ not because they hate gay people but because they are worried for the safety of those kids,’ since ‘gay people are predatory’ and will’ abuse those kids if they are given access to them. Or, for example, transphobes will insist that trans women shouldn’t be allowed into women’s spaces because’ trans women are predatory’ and will’ rape cis women in those spaces if they are allowed in.’ Very often, they’ll try to find anecdotal examples where this has actually happened, to fabricate fear, like for instance a story about a gay couple who had adopted kids and actually abused them or, when a trans woman actually assaulted a cis woman in a women’s space. They’ll endlessly hiper-fixate on them, claiming that these anecdotal examples are the default for all LGBTIQ people.

Trans people deal with a huge amount of inequality, discrimination, and violence. We are often disowned by our families, sometimes even thrown out of the house and forced into homelessness. We experience discrimination when we try to get an education, find employment, secure housing, or access healthcare. We are often left with survival sex work as the only option to earn money or living with a partner (who can be controlling and abusive) as the only housing option. During each of these, we experience high levels of physical, psychological, and sexual violence. We are often demonized in the media and exiled from public life. All these things contribute to trans people living in a society where we acquire less social, economic, and political power than cis people.

If transgender people were to be given respect in a democratic society, life for example, our families, teachers, employers, and healthcare providers, respecting our identity and providing the necessary support, the lives of trans people would improve significantly. Being legally recognized as our gender helps us blend in and stay stealthy when dealing with a transphobic teacher, employer, renter, healthcare provider, or any other situation where disclosing our trans identity might be a risk to our safety. All these things would help trans people acquire more, if not as much, social, economic, and political power as cis people and become equal members of society.

Transphobes do not want this. They want to maintain a system in which they can control our bodies, our identities, our lives, and the amount of social, economic, and political power that we can access through already existing systems of discrimination and violence, which they use to keep us repressed in fear, poverty, and helplessness.

However, once again, saying that aloud would make transphobes look bad. So transphobes try to subtly communicate these sentiments in a passive-aggressive way, using dog whistles. So, a transphobe will never describe themselves as a cisgender “man” or a cisgender “woman.” They are more likely to express themselves as a “real woman,” a “normal woman,” a “biological woman,” or just a “woman,” to imply that a trans woman is not real, normal, or something based in biology or material reality, but a product of this aggressive minority’s delusional fiction. To imply that she is a “man.”

To say to a homophobe that their marriage is’ heterosexual’ is basically a pleonasm to them because, to them, heterosexual marriage is the only valid marriage because their definition of a “marriage” is “a union between a man and a woman.” So when we tell them that marriage can also be homosexual, they see this as an “aggressive minority” redefining their words, “forcing” our “woke agenda” and “authoritarian language” on them, and erasing the meaning of the word “marriage.”

This is precisely how transphobes feel about the word “cisgender.” To tell a transphobe that they are a “cisgender man” or a “cisgender woman” is basically a pleonasm to them because, to them, a cisgender man is the only valid version of man, and a cisgender woman is the only valid version of a woman. And to imply that a trans woman is a woman, or that a trans man is a man, is unacceptable to them, because to them, the definition of a man is a person who was assigned male at birth, and the definition of a woman is a person who was assigned female at birth. So when someone calls a trans man a man or a trans woman a woman, once again, they see this as this ‘aggressive minority’ redefining their words,’ forcing’ our’ woke agenda’ and’ authoritarian language’ on them and erasing the meaning of words’ man’ and’ woman’.

‘ Cis’ is not a slur.’ Cis’ (short for’ cisgender’) is a word used to describe those whose gender matches the one they were assigned at birth, that is, those who are not “trans” (short for’ transgender’). Naming cis people and people who are trans allows us to talk about the different experiences that those two groups of people have and the inequality of the two inside a democratic society. Naming cis people and people who are trans allows us to discuss the hierarchies in which these two groups exist and discuss how we can create a more equal society where those two groups have the same access to human rights and the same amount of social, economic, and political power.

When transphobes say that “cis is a slur” or that they simply do not like the word’, this is a manipulation tactic. It aims to create a digression because as long as we’re stuck on terminology, we cannot discuss the inequality of cis people and people who are trans. As long as we are not allowed to name those who are cis, we cannot address the practices of discrimination and violence that a system designed to benefit them commits against those who are trans. As long as we’re not allowed to name those who are cis and those who are trans, we are unable to discuss the hierarchy that these two groups are in, nor to work towards abolishing it and working towards creating a more equal society.

Note: This article was written as a part of the “Strengthening the Trans, Non-Binary, and Intersex Caucus in the Western Balkans and Turkey region” project implemented by ERA’s TNBI Caucus.

Topic - Access to Health / Access to Justice / Access to Social Protection / Discrimination / Human Rights / Participation / Politics / Trans / Transgender / Transphobia / Transwomen / Visibility
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