this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2024
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"cis" I feel like it's an extra term for "straight". The "default" for lack of a better term (and one that isn't othering) is near the not trans & not gay part of the gender / sexuality spectra. To me everyone in that zone is "straight" (boring/default/whatever).
"begs the question" because people exclusively use it wrong. Just say "leads to the question" or "poses the question."
And I'm still really salty about everyone giving up on the term "literally" to allow it to mean its exact opposite.
There is a better term, it's 'cis'
Cis and straight are... Entirely different axes, though. How would you describe someone who is cis and gay, or trans and straight while applying "straight" to both sexual orientation and gender identity?
There are plenty of cis gay folks. "Straight" just doesn't work if you're trying to describe non-trans people.
I find "cis" useful, personally. I'm bisexual, so certainly "straight" isn't applicable. In a lot of contexts I'd use "cis" to refer to myself, I suppose "not trans" would also work, but it'd be clunkier.
Plus, there are times when the thing I want to centre in my communication is the cisgender perspective that I have. For example, I was recently discussing with a friend that seeing trans friend's gender euphoria improved my own relationship to my gender because it made me ask myself whether cis people could experience gender euphoria and if so, why couldn't I recall any instances of experiencing it?
I feel like the term "cisgender" implicitly acknowledges that voices and experiences like mine are important in building a shared understanding of gender — i.e. trans people aren't the only ones who have a gender. Like, obviously I can't speak directly about trans experiences, but that doesn't mean that I'm expected to shut up and contribute nothing to the wider conversation.
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“Cis” is not an extra term for straight any more than “trans” is. These terms have nothing to do with sexual orientation. If you can handle the word “straight,” as opposed to “boring/default/whatever,” then you can also handle the word “cis” by the same logic.