# "Don't call me 'cisgender'!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 30, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903 "2015-04-30T15:23:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 29
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/561 "2016-03-22T13:43:39Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I still don’t like “cisgender” for the reason I cited way back when this thread was young: it’s a hissing sound attached to “gender,” an aural expression of disapproval, in short, a perjorative by nature, and very often used that way. I’m not worried though: I don’t see any sign that the term is catching on in the mainstream. I’m sorry, but that’s just hilarious. By this reckoning, if you say something that belongs to a man is “his,” you’re using a pejorative. It’s an aural expression of disapproval! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/562 "2016-03-22T14:24:59Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I’m sorry, but that’s just hilarious. By this reckoning, if you say something that belongs to a man is “his,” you’re using a pejorative. It’s an aural expression of disapproval! A-HA! ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/563 "2016-03-22T14:31:38Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I’m sorry, but that’s just hilarious. By this reckoning, if you say something that belongs to a man is “his,” you’re using a pejorative. It’s an aural expression of disapproval! Watch it, _sis_ter. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/564 "2016-03-22T14:36:26Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Watch it, _sis_ter. I thought of that myself, but I have a counter, you _sissy._ ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/565 "2016-03-22T14:53:21Z")
But you can hardly argue that it’s systemic. Don’t tell Sysco. Their systolic might go through the roof. I’m sorry, the “perjorative by nature” argument doesn’t hold water. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/566 "2016-03-22T14:57:11Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I thought of that myself, but I have a counter, you _sissy._ You think a word originally used as a neutral word that became a slur against men by associating them with women is intrinsically pejorative? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/567 "2016-03-22T15:52:08Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > You think a word originally used as a neutral word that became a slur against men by associating them with women is intrinsically pejorative? I think the hissing sound combined with the way it is sometimes used by feminists makes it pejorative, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/568 "2016-03-22T15:58:16Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I think the hissing sound combined with the way it is sometimes used by feminists makes it pejorative, yes. And you think that if we use a different term to describe exactly the same thing - “gender normative,” or what have you - that term will somehow not be used as a pejorative in exactly the way “cisgender” sometimes is? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/569 "2016-03-22T16:10:51Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > And you think that if we use a different term to describe exactly the same thing - “gender normative,” or what have you - that term will somehow not be used as a pejorative in exactly the way “cisgender” sometimes is? Whatever was wrong with “straight”? ---
**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:** [March 22, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/570 "2016-03-22T16:12:32Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Whatever was wrong with “straight”? Straight describes one’s attraction/preference for partner(s), not gender identity. There are straight trans people. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/571 "2016-03-22T16:12:46Z")
It doesn’t mean the same thing as cisgender, for starters. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/572 "2016-03-22T16:15:28Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Straight describes one’s attraction/preference for partner(s), not gender identity. There are straight trans people. Doesn’t work for you, I get it. Works for me to describe people whose gender identity matches their physique and is heterosexual. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/573 "2016-03-22T16:18:13Z")
Ok, now you are funning me. I’m not even sure what it would mean for a person’s gender identity to match their physique. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/574 "2016-03-22T16:22:59Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Ok, now you are funning me. I’m not even sure what it would mean for a person’s gender identity to match their physique. They think they are male, they feel comfy being male, they have at least one Y chromosome and a set of male genitals? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/575 "2016-03-22T16:23:04Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Whatever was wrong with “straight”? Now that’s comedy gold: “I don’t like cisgender, because it has a hissy sound at the beginning!” “What should we use instead?” “Ssssssssstraight!” Anyway, you didn’t answer my question: whatever term we use instead of “cisgender,” what is going to prevent that term from being used as a pejorative in exactly the same manner that “cisgender” is sometimes used? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/576 "2016-03-22T16:25:12Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > They think they are male, they feel comfy being male, they have at least one Y chromosome and a set of male genitals? None of which attributes are covered by the definition of the word “physique.” ---
**Author:** ![Hooleehootoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eada6e/32.png) [@Hooleehootoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hooleehootoo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/577 "2016-03-22T16:27:32Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Obviously, we need to make a concerted effort to change the names, (even if it requires re-writing history), of Cisalpine Gaul and the Cisalpine Republic. We need to demand that the various groups attempting to encourage Earth orbit space exploration abandon the use of cislunar in their names. Someone, somewhere, is liable to confuse these places as being examples of references to cysts, (despite the difference in spelling), and we cannot allow that. You really think that the objectionable part of a word such as “ciscriminal” to people so termed would be the prefix cis- ? ---
**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:** [March 22, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/578 "2016-03-22T16:29:22Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Doesn’t work for you, I get it. Works for me to describe people whose gender identity matches their physique and is heterosexual. Weirdness of “physique” aside, so all the trans people who are straight are wrong, in your eyes? How should they describe their sexual orientation? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/579 "2016-03-22T16:33:32Z")
And how should I describe myself as a gay biomale who identifies as a man? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903/580 "2016-03-22T17:19:36Z")
Arg. I know it’s been said, but I’ll say it again. “Cisgender” is a perfectly fine technical word that can be used in discussions of gender issues. It doesn’t need to be used in daily life. If you’re calling in to Savage Love, you don’t need to introduce yourself with “I’m a 21 year old straight cisgender woman…” That’s just silly. The only reason to use the term cisgender is if you need a term to contrast with transgender. If you don’t need to do that–like, if say, gender-identity issues will not be part of this conversation–then you don’t need to identify yourself as cisgender, any more than transgender people need to identify as transgender. You only need to identify as transgender when it actually makes a difference. If you want an intimate relationship with someone your gender might make a difference. “When should I tell them I’m transgender?” and so on. But using it as a little social preening pecking order boost is silly. “I’m the type of person who cares about issues, so I’m mentioning that I’m cisgender to establish myself as the type of person who cares about issues, and that makes me better than the type of people who don’t care about issues.” Transgender people don’t introduce themselves as transgender unless there’s some particular reason to do so, so cisgendered people should not introduce themselves as cisgender unless there’s a real actual reason to do so. And even in a discussion of gender there’s not much reason to do so. You don’t constantly remind people that you’re white, do you? You don’t go, “I met the nicest black woman at the market yesterday” do you? Yeah, actually my mother in law does this. So don’t do that. You don’t have to comment on people’s gender status unless it is actually relevant to the discussion. Bringing up that you’re the type of white person who doesn’t have any problem having a friendly conversation with a black person is pretty sad. You don’t get a cookie for treating people of other races with ordinary human decency. You don’t get a cookie for identifying as cisgender either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903.md?page=28) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-call-me-cisgender/718903.md?page=30)