(no subject)

[gfish]

People have problems with the term cisgender? That's... I don't know what that is. Quite an impressive knapsack, I guess.

Comments

Re: Down with L'Académie Française!

[pielology.livejournal.com]

I still don't understand your position here (AFAICT this whole thread sprung from one in a flocked post elsewhere?), and I would like to.

Is your argument fundamentally political (i.e., that the metaphor people are relying on in order to draw an analogy to other uses of the cis- prefix is incorrect/counterrevolutionary)? Or fundamentally linguistic/literalist, i.e., that it is illegitimate to extend the use of cis- by analogy for things that don't have literal sides?

Re: Down with L'Académie Française!

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Actually, for the record, this all started in reference some entirely different posts. I hadn't read the thread neuro42 was involved in until I saw it referenced here.

Re: Down with L'Académie Française!

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

While I do have a horse in the former race, what I'm talking about here is the latter, although I would strike 'literal'.

Re: Down with L'Académie Française!

[pielology.livejournal.com]

So you don't object to people using "cisgender" if they actually do believe in a gender binary?

Re: Down with L'Académie Française!

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

That's not correct. Even if you posit a 'gender binary', you cannot be on the same or opposite side *of the concept of gender itself*, and that's the only sensible thing cis- can mean.

Re: Down with L'Académie Française!

[pielology.livejournal.com]

But "cis-gender-binary" would be OK? Or cis-gender-assignment-at-birth? (I mean, assuming I sorted the hyphens correctly)

Re: Down with L'Académie Française!

[xmurf.livejournal.com]

No! No matter what model you think of gender using, there's none in which it makes sense to be on this side of it or the opposite side of it! I don't understand why you don't see this.

Re: Down with L'Académie Française!

[pielology.livejournal.com]

It totally makes sense to be on the opposite side of the gender binary from the side you were assigned at birth! And that concept elides precisely as much cultural context as the idea that "cisalpine" refers to the southern side of the Alps, which it does. I don't understand why you don't see this.

Re: Down with L'Académie Française!

[pielology.livejournal.com]

... and by "concept" I meant "usage", there.