Don’t diss the ‘Cis’-terhood

It’s perfectly OK to want to have some control over how you are described. This, after all, is why I pay attention to the pronouns that genderfluid folk prefer, and if they wish to be referred to as they/their, I do my best to comply.

If your eyes rolled just reading that paragraph, you probably don’t like the word “cis”. That’s OK.

But what’s not OK is the paranoia that accompanies the rejection of the word, and its opposite ‘‘trans’’.

“Cis” is most often used as a simple descriptor, not as an insult and not as a passive-aggressive act. If you’re triggered by it, then that may say more about you than the word.

There are still a (very) few who are grumpy at the “hijacking” of the word gay but most people got used to that. The likelihood is that we will all get used to cis, too.

More seriously, defining one’s own gender is not a fashion, nor the product of a lack of other things to worry about. To reduce gender-questioning to a throw away line is dangerous for one of the most marginalised groups in our society, a group who deserve respect and preservation of their human rights, just like “cis” people like me have enjoyed, well, forever.