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Vagina Museum

"Cis" wasn't used again for many years after this, until it was revived in scholarship by German sexologist Volkmar Sigusch in 1991. Sigusch used the term "Zissexuell" (cissexual) to describe people who were not trans.

72 comments
Vagina Museum

"Cis" was first used in the English language in 1994, when student Dana Defosse proposed its use in a Usenet group around trans topics. She argued that without an antonym to "trans", language implied trans people as Other. The adjective "cis" helped position cis as not the "norm".

Vagina Museum

The term started to catch on in scholarship around gender, and by the mid 2000s, it began to gain popularity. By 2014, "cisgender" became one of the gender options on Facebook. In 2015, it was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

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A similar term to "cis" is "heterosexual". This adjective was also coined in the early 20th century, although its original use was far less neutral than "cis".

In 1901, "heterosexual" first appeared in Dorland's Medical Dictionary, meaning “abnormal or perverted appetite toward the opposite sex". In other words, hererosexuality was considered pathological when it was first coined!

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In 1934, the definition of "heterosexual" was revised to its current definition, and no longer considered a pathology.

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Yesterday, Twitter - or at least Twitter's owner - declared "cisgender" to be a slur. At no point in the adjective's century-old history of coinage and revival has it ever been coined as a slur.

Derick Rethans replied to Vagina

@vagina_museum Neither is/was "woke", but here we are.

L.J. is the cis Minipang replied to Derick

@derickr "woke" kind of proves the point, though, because it's AAVE that was stolen from and twisted around to target Black people and people who are insufficiently antiblack and fashy. The attempt to distort the meaning of "cis" is likely a ransacking by the dominant culture of trans culture and thought. @vagina_museum

Beto Dealmeida replied to Vagina

@vagina_museum it makes sense for "cisgender" to be a slur, since mass shootings are disproportionately caused by cis men. /s

twitter.com/ButNotTheCity/stat

SynthGal the RatBot replied to Beto

@beto @vagina_museum you cannot have a slur for the dominant oppressor group

lee :Fire_Trans: replied to Beto

@beto that's not how slurs work...at all... Should "man" be a slur too then, by that logic??

lee :Fire_Trans: replied to Beto

@beto what makes something a slur, in your mind

David Wynne replied to lee

@beto @inherentlee just butting in to point out this, which is there to indicate that Beto was being sarcastic. Tbh, I think that’s fairly obvious, but they still took the trouble to make sure there would be no doubt, and yet here we are.

This isn’t twitter. Let’s not turn this place into an arguing machine too. It’s okay to give people the benefit of a doubt, and take a minute to be sure someone is saying what you think they’re saying.

lee :Fire_Trans: replied to David

@davidwynne @beto they must have added that after my original response, as there was no sarcasm indicator when I saw it

Beto Dealmeida replied to lee

@davidwynne In @inherentlee's defense, I did add it later... I initially thought the sarcasm was clear. Sorry, I should've called the edit out!

David Wynne replied to Beto

@beto @inherentlee my own post was probably a little overly-grumpy. I have not had much sleep. But I should also take my own advice and remember that this is not Twitter. I just get exhausted when I see people who obviously agree with each other getting caught up in misunderstanding-fights like they’re 1970s Marvel Comics characters

lee :Fire_Trans: replied to David

@davidwynne @beto Nah, you were right, and I'm glad you pointed it out to me.

Steven Heywood replied to lee

@inherentlee @davidwynne @beto
Thank you all for the courtesy involved in this discourse and its happy resolution. Definitely *not* like Twitter.

lee :Fire_Trans: replied to Beto

@beto @davidwynne It super wasn't clear to me so I appreciate the edit!

Naomi replied to lee

@inherentlee @beto It's used as an insult by someone who is very drunk.

Phil Rees replied to Vagina

@vagina_museum In some contexts everything can be used as a slur. If Elon were consistent he'd extend his policy to cover the entire content of the OED and ban everyone from his free speech town square.

bytebro replied to Vagina

@vagina_museum Just wanted to chip in and say that this has been a very interesting and informative thread, at least to me. Good work.

uhmmm replied to Vagina

@vagina_museum

Thanks for this

I didn't know much of this

Anders von Hadern

@vagina_museum Do you also have data and context about lesbians not defining as women but a third sex? I am defining as such and have my own ideas but would love to know more <3

Heather Rose Jones

@anders_von_hadern @vagina_museum The idea of lesbians being considered a “third sex” or as falling intermediately on a gender scale between men and women, or as partaking of both male and female traits (all slightly different concepts, but related) is fairly old. As in, maybe as old as classical philosophy. I’d have to go through my research notes for specifics but it might make an interesting topic for my podcast. (The #LesbianHistoricMotifProject podcast.) 1/+

Heather Rose Jones replied to Heather Rose Jones

@anders_von_hadern @vagina_museum The concept is often rooted in the idea that one’s gender is defined in relation to the object of one’s desire, so it can sometimes give the appearance of erasing the category of “lesbian” in that it classifies lesbians as “not-women” and therefore negates the concept of “woman-loving-woman”. But there have been a number of variants on the idea of “lesbians (or homosexuals in general) as third sex” across the ages, with different nuances. 2/2

Anders von Hadern replied to Heather Rose Jones

@heatherrosejones @vagina_museum I know about lesbians not being women in the context of Monique Wittig, but vaguely only.

What I like about it is the context of lesbians not being heterosexual women (not to be had by men) and not being men (as in: lesbians are not behaving as predatory towards women as men do as some cliché tells).

Plus for my personal experience loving another not-woman lesbian is a completely different love on a mental and biological base than as a woman loving a woman. Which is why I definitely define as third sex lesbian.

Whereas woman loving women for me is not a gender/sex-question but a definition of sexual preference.

Does that make any sense? I am pretty sure I am not alone in this and there were several lesbians before me ;-)

@heatherrosejones @vagina_museum I know about lesbians not being women in the context of Monique Wittig, but vaguely only.

What I like about it is the context of lesbians not being heterosexual women (not to be had by men) and not being men (as in: lesbians are not behaving as predatory towards women as men do as some cliché tells).

tbehrens

@vagina_museum So „heterosexual“ was first used in the sense of hypersexuality. 🤔

Furby

@tbehrens @vagina_museum What do you mean by "hypersexuality" in this context?

Furby replied to tbehrens

@tbehrens @vagina_museum ok sure but I'm unsure how that connects to the German gender studies stuff in this thread

tbehrens replied to Furby

@furby @vagina_museum „In 1901, "heterosexual" first appeared in Dorland's Medical Dictionary, meaning “abnormal or perverted appetite toward the opposite sex". In other words, hererosexuality was considered pathological when it was first coined!“

John Mark Ockerbloom replied to tbehrens

@tbehrens @furby @vagina_museum I also find it in the 1900 edition: see babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id The OED also notes an 1898 usage in this sense in another work, as well as an 1895 usage in an English translation of a German work that appears to use it with the usual present-day sense.

@pndc

@vagina_museum I am now wondering about the somewhat odd usage of "hetereosexualty" in the /Bill The Galactic Hero/ books (1961 for the main one, 1989–1991 for the cash-in sequels) which would certainly make a bit more sense if it's considered pathological rather than the modern meaning.

Targea Caramar 🇨🇴

@vagina_museum That kinda begs the question: what was considered the normal, healthy option back then? A healthy appetite towards both sexes? Having no appetite at all and just marrying and having just enough sex to Fulfill Your Godly Duty To Go Forth And Multiply?

DamnKimberlee

@vagina_museum i really needed to know the etymology of this word. Thank you.

WanderingBeekeeper

@vagina_museum Thanks for this. Wasn't aware of it. Shouldn't the norm just be "human", with everything else being an operating parameter?

hubzillar
This is a bit shallow logic. It is statistically necessary that heterosexuality is normal. This is is that abnormality is considered "bad". It is isn't, only different.
Beaware :verified_gold:

@vagina_museum a lot of talk on #Mastodon about if #cis is an insult. In my opinion and experience, it's only an insult when added with insulting context. Ex. "Cis white men are what's wrong with social media sites, if trans/black/brown/females ran social media it'd have been WAY different". You see how that's insulting, right? It's racist and sexist.

Carlo Gubitosa :nonviolenza:

@BeAware @vagina_museum even Elon Musk can be used like an insult. "Don't be a Musk, try to be smart and tolerant instead of wasting billions to amplify your prejudices".

Beaware :verified_gold:

@gubi @vagina_museum of course, anything can be an insult with added context, but lots of people like to think that the context doesn't matter and that peoe are saying cis is an insult. It's only an insult when you're being insulting....🤦🏻‍♂️

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