Gregory's Server"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".
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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! In 1934, the definition of "heterosexual" was revised to its current definition, and no longer considered a pathology. 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.   @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 @vagina_museum it makes sense for "cisgender" to be a slur, since mass shootings are disproportionately caused by cis men. /s https://twitter.com/ButNotTheCity/status/1640772651470790661 @beto @vagina_museum you cannot have a slur for the dominant oppressor group  @beto that's not how slurs work...at all... Should "man" be a slur too then, by that logic?? @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. @davidwynne @beto they must have added that after my original response, as there was no sarcasm indicator when I saw it @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! @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 @davidwynne @beto Nah, you were right, and I'm glad you pointed it out to me. @inherentlee @davidwynne @beto @beto @davidwynne It super wasn't clear to me so I appreciate the edit! @inherentlee @MJmusicinears @beto I’m sorry, if that’s not a rhetorical question then you’re going to need to be more specific. I don’t know which of us you’re referring to, which post you’re talking about, etc   @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.  @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.  @vagina_museum next up Elon will declare "right handed" to be a slur. @vagina_museum Why haven’t we afforded people who suffer from depression the same courtesy? Gender dysphoria is much closer to depression than sexual preference. Dysphoria and gender identity can change over time. The gay person doesn’t suffer from their own internal sexual preference - only the social acceptance or not of that preference. Their own body seems to be the fundamental source of suffering of the trans person - compounded of course by the lack of societal acceptance. @vagina_museum Certainly, we can’t call gender dysphoria “normal” in any sense because it requires medical intervention in many cases. A right which trans people are fighting for. Maybe if everybody stopped worrying about “the patriarchy” and “grooming” and focused more of the suffering of those who manifest gender dysphoria, we could make life a little easier for everyone. @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 @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/+ @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 @tbehrens @vagina_museum ok sure but I'm unsure how that connects to the German gender studies stuff in this thread @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!“ @tbehrens @furby @vagina_museum I also find it in the 1900 edition: see https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ien.35558005329269&view=1up&seq=318 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.  @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. @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?  @retrohondajunki @vagina_museum no, he’s someone with an extreme amount of power as the owner of a global communications network, used by governments and news media to inform the public, and he’s using that power to engage in a specific campaign of marginalization and harm against trans people.   @vagina_museum cliffhanger: the opposite of norm... @vagina_museum Thanks for this. Wasn't aware of it. Shouldn't the norm just be "human", with everything else being an operating parameter? @WanderingBeekeeper @vagina_museum why do you consider cis people the default tho @synthgal @vagina_museum I don't. I consider humans the default, and cis and trans as operating parameters. 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.
@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. @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". @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....🤦🏻♂️  @vagina_museum precisely the reason some people have a problem with the word. they want to other us. they want to be seen as the normal, default, only human option |
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.