# Ask the Left-Wing Alt-Right Prick **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 26, 2017, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383 "2017-09-26T23:59:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/81 "2017-09-27T18:33:06Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > How would you know I’m a dude? Isn’t that assuming my gender? Yep, it sure is. Is this something that bothers you? What about the part about hair color? Or anything else? Note that YOU are the person who is offended being labeled \*\*anything \*\*by **anybody**. Not me. I don’t particularly care if somebody assumes my gender. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/82 "2017-09-27T18:34:52Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > [Pentadactyly](http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Pentadactyly) Forgot to say thanks for finding this. It’s a cool word. I think I’m going to go with \*\*quinquedigitate \*\*instead though. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/83 "2017-09-27T18:36:22Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I understand they have meaning. Just like “Male” and “Female” and “Man” and “Woman” have meaning. I also know that there are people who don’t identify with any of those terms. How would you refer to someone who doesn’t identify as trans or cis? Or are you under the impression that every single person on the planet can be categorized as either “transgender” or “cisgender”? I’ll ask for the third time. Describe a person who doesn’t fit into one of those two buckets, but who also fits under the “man” bucket. I don’t pretend my thinking about this is exhaustive. Also, “cisgender” describes you, even if you don’t “identify” with that term. Just as “single-nosed” describes you even if you don’t “identify” with that term. It’s a functional descriptor. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/84 "2017-09-27T18:37:23Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > I don’t particularly care if somebody assumes my gender. Yes, but some people DO care. Any you won’t know who those people are until you mistakenly assume their gender. So to be safe, don’t assume anyone’s gender. Unless you don’t care about offending people 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/85 "2017-09-27T18:37:43Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > If I’ve previously identified myself as “American” or “a veteran” or “heterosexual” then no, I wouldn’t object. What if you hadn’t, but they knew because someone else told them? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/86 "2017-09-27T18:40:55Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I’ll ask for the third time. Describe a person who doesn’t fit into one of those two buckets, but who also fits under the “man” bucket I have described such a person. A person who neither identifies as transgender nor cisgender. > [@](#): > > Also, “cisgender” describes you, even if you don’t “identify” with that term Not necessarily true, unless you subscribe to the idea that all people on the planet are either cisgender or transgender. Is that what you think? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/87 "2017-09-27T18:41:28Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Yes, but some people DO care. Any you won’t know who those people are until you mistakenly assume their gender. We’re not talking about them. We’re talking about you, and your objection to be labeled anything by anybody. Or is that, gasp, not actually a sincerely held belief of yours? I feel like you’re under the impression that you’ve found some sort of “gotcha!” in all this, but for the life of me I can’t tell what it is. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/88 "2017-09-27T18:42:31Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > What if you hadn’t, but they knew because someone else told them? Well, they don’t really “know” then, do they? They only know what someone else told them. Which may or not be true. Best to avoid 3rd hand information when dealing with people. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/89 "2017-09-27T18:44:04Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > We’re not talking about them. We’re talking about you, and your objection to be labeled anything by anybody. > > Or is that, gasp, not actually a sincerely held belief of yours? > > I feel like you’re under the impression that you’ve found some sort of “gotcha!” in all this, but for the life of me I can’t tell what it is. Sorry, I don’t deal in gotchas. I also don’t lie. Put both of those together, and that means yes, it’s a sincerely held belief. I don’t like other people telling me what labels I should use for myself. I didn’t wake up one day and think “Wow! From now on I’m cisgendered!” Some people keep telling me that’s what I am. And I don’t like that. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/90 "2017-09-27T18:48:17Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Well, they don’t really “know” then, do they? They only know what someone else told them. Which may or not be true. Best to avoid 3rd hand information when dealing with people. Sure. But would you object, or be offended? Or would you barely notice and not really care since that kind of labeling is so common and mundane? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/91 "2017-09-27T18:53:44Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Sure. But would you object, or be offended? Or would you barely notice and not really care since that kind of labeling is so common and mundane? I would care. As an example, during the Bush years I traveled overseas on vacation a lot. And every time I told someone I was American, I had to listen to a litany of complaints and bitching that I would rather not hear during a vacation. So, I started telling people I was Canadian. Now if a person came around and said “yeah, I heard from Joe that \*\*manson1972 \*\*is a fine American” I would care. (I realize this is contradictory to my “I don’t lie” statement, but meh) ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/92 "2017-09-27T19:17:04Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Unfortunately, that’s not how language works. I’m very much a prescriptivist at heart and my default position for invented words or usage is to resist. “Cisgendered” has been around for a couple of decades, though. It’s moved naturally from fringe academic speak to common parlance. I’ve never heard the term used in common conversation, but then again I don’t hang around at Starbucks. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/93 "2017-09-27T19:25:35Z")
We know you’re a dude because you’ve told us you are a dude. And, even if we’d made a mistake, you never corrected the many, many times people used “he.” We are assuming nothing about your gender. When I don’t know someone’s gender on here, I use “they,” or reword things to avoid the pronoun altogether. If I make a mistake, I apologize and make a note so I don’t mess up again. What I won’t entertain is your bullshit about not being cisgender. It’s just a medical term, without any replacements. And you are not an oppressed minority, so you don’t get to pretend the term has been used to oppress you. I am a white heterosexual cisgender male. I _know_ the term is not offensive. So I know that you are just full of shit, pretending to be offended to make a stupid point. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/94 "2017-09-27T19:32:06Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I have described such a person. A person who neither identifies as transgender nor cisgender. If I was to accept this line of thinking, then I would say that there are no such things as fetuses because no fetus identifies itself as a fetus. For that matter, there’s no such things as corpses, since they don’t identify as corpses - so humans never die, because they never can become dead. Tables and rocks don’t exist either. What I’m saying, in my subtle way, is that your statement is stupid and I don’t subscribe to your newsletter. And not because newsletters don’t exist, either. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/95 "2017-09-27T19:33:22Z")
Not liking the sound of the word is a perfectly good reason to come up with another word, and try to get it to take on. It’s not a reason to pretend to be “offended” by it. The offense that does happen is not offense to the word. It’s offense to the very concept that we would need a word for the category. The whole point is to invalidate the trans\* identity by making the only possible word something like “normal.” ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/96 "2017-09-27T19:41:49Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > What I’m saying, in my subtle way, is that your statement is stupid and I don’t subscribe to your newsletter. And not because newsletters don’t exist, either. So does that mean that you subscribe to the idea that every person on the planet can be categorized as cisgender or transgender? A simple yes or no will suffice. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/97 "2017-09-27T19:45:12Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I am a white heterosexual cisgender male. I _know_ the term is not offensive. So I know that you are just full of shit, pretending to be offended to make a stupid point. Strange. I was under the impression that you don’t get to tell other people what they can be offended about. Has that changed? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/98 "2017-09-27T19:45:15Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > So does that mean that you subscribe to the idea that every person on the planet can be categorized as cisgender or transgender? A simple yes or no will suffice. I’m of the opinion that the only real definition for the term “cisgender” I’ve ever heard is _not transgender_. Which would mean that, by my understanding of the term, the answer is a resounding yes - every person on the planet can be categorized as either trangender or not transgender (aka cisgender). ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/99 "2017-09-27T19:47:15Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The offense that does happen is not offense to the word. It’s offense to the very concept that we would need a word for the category. The whole point is to invalidate the trans\* identity by making the only possible word something like “normal.” I have never, not once, advocated for the use of the word “normal” to describe someone who isn’t transgender. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383/100 "2017-09-27T19:48:15Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Which would mean that, by my understanding of the term, the answer is a resounding yes - every person on the planet can be categorized as either trangender or not transgender (aka cisgender). Thanks for answering. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-left-wing-alt-right-prick/797383.md?page=6)