------------------------------------------------------- Moving Beyond the "Cis" Wars: Some terms for sex/gender ------------------------------------------------------- While the butch/FTM frontier or borderland has been an arena for conflict and peacemaking, a lot of high drama between Lesbian feminists who are WBF (Womyn Born Female) and those WOTH (Womyn Of Transsexual History) has as its kindling point the term "cis-." The purpose of this article is to propose some replacements to fill its originally intended functions while helping to improve WBF-WOTH relations and promote understanding rather than mutual erasure or perceived misgendering. Originally, the term "cis-" was intended to be simply the complement of "trans-," with the Latin cisalpine/transalpine as one model. Thus cissexual or cisgender people remain in their sex or gender assigned at birth, while transsexual people undergo medical transition, and transgender people undergo social transition (e.g. moving from living as a boy or man to living as a girl or womon). One problem with these words is that they acquired baggage, with "cisgendered" meaning not only that the person identified in accordance with birth assignment (gender identity), but that the person was "comfortable" or "conforming" in that identity, mixing in the question of gender role or presentation with the different dimension of identity mainly intended. Thus a butch Lesbian who does not wish to transition medically (cissexual), and who is very gender nonconforming but also a proud womon and has no desire to shift social status to that of a man, may hear herself called "cis," although in fact she is certainly not "gender-conforming" and not necessarily at all comfortable with the usual or expected role for a "woman" (conventional spelling intended!). This feels very much like erasure. And "transgender" may feel equally wrong, because her proud identity as a womon is to her erased by that label: "I am not cis! And I am not trans -- I'm a diesel dyke, not a boi!" ------------------------- 1. Why not trans/nontrans ------------------------- Some womyn have said: "Hey, why not just use trans and nontrans?" Here there are three dilemmas. First, I have actually gotten feedback that "nontrans" sounds like trans is the norm! Generally the intent would be the opposite, with "trans" the more unusual or in linguistic terms "marked" condition, and "nontrans" the norm. But if someone hears herself being marginalized because she is not trans -- as opposed to put on par in a balanced pair with trans -- then the conversation is derailed. Another problem is that trans/nontrans loses the whole point of the cis/trans idea: to have a term for the "nontrans" condition which is neither "normalizing" (like normosexual or just "normal") nor negative, simply expressing that the person is "not trans." The third and most serious problem of all is the weaponization of "cis" as an insult hurled by certain trans womyn (not necessarily either Lesbian or feminist!) at WBF Lesbians, such as "Die Cis Scum!" Thus themes such as "CIS is a Slur" are common on Twitter. The level of anger and suspicion among some WBF Lesbians (often, it is fair to note, Lesbians with transphobia who engage in misgendering and other such "trans-critical" sports) is so high that they believe that term was meant to imply "Cissie," an insult directed specifically against womyn! They also complain that "cis privilege" does not exist for womyn, given sexism, so the term totally ignores patriarchy and male privilege. Let's put aside the whole privilege question, but note that these (mis)readings of the original purpose of cis- show how an originally harmless term (whatever its merits) can become a weapon in a war of misgendering where truth is the first and repeated casualty. These problems, together, can trigger a reaction by some Lesbian feminists and others that cis/trans, where the first term implies both "nontransitioning" and "comfortable/conforming," can send an insidious message to many teenagers in the Butch/FTM borderland: "Your Patriarchal Normative Gender: Love It or Leave It!" In other words, these dykes fear that this message is: "Either get more acceptably feminine, or else go on T and fit in as a man!" They see this responsible for "transition trenders" and "a lost generation of Butches." Whatever the validity of these assertions, I believe that Lesbian feminists and other queer people must both guard against any narrowing of gender options, and insist that people have access to knowledge about all the alternatives before making the very serious decision on whether to transition. Systems other than cis/trans may better promote this kind of maximum sex/gender flexibility and informed choice. Now let's consider an alternative system that does serve the original purpose of cis/trans, doesn't have bad associations, and also is defined so as not to mix sex or gender identity with gender role or presentation, which are addressed as separate or orthogonal variables which can be "mixed and matched." ----------------------------------------------------- 2. Primo/trans: "First" or "transitioned" sex/gender? ----------------------------------------------------- A primosexual person is one who remains in her/his/zir "first" (Latin _primo-_) or assigned-at-birth sex, while a transsexual undergoes medical transition with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and possibly Genital Reconstruction Surgery (GRS). Note that "primosexual" simply says that the person does not transition, without any comment on how comfortable she/he/ze is. A primogender person keeps the same gender identity as the one corresponding to sex assignment at birth, however conventionally, unconventionally, or adventurously. A transgender (or transgendered) person has a gender identity different than that corresponding with her/his/zir sex assigned at birth, and typically undergoes a change or social gender identity ("womon," "man," or "genderqueer," etc.) Note that primogender does _not_ imply either "comfortable" or "uncomfortable" in one's "gender assignment the same as at birth"; it only says that the person does not identity as a member of a different gender category or undergo social transition. This category covers everyone who does not transition from the most conventional, to the most daring and marginal gender outlaw! So a dyke can say, "I'm primogender(ed)" and mean only, "I was Female Assigned At Birth (FAAB) and identify as a womon of some kind" -- whether High Femme or Bulldagger! At this point, primo/trans seems to fulfill exactly the intended function of cis/trans, before all the misunderstanding and drama started. Now we can introduce a refinement. -------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Ortho/peri: Are you "conventional" or "near the perimeter"? -------------------------------------------------------------- Unlike primo/trans, the ortho/peri dimension does at least crudely address where you are or how you feel _within_ your sex or gender identity category. However, they are not binaries but continua, and just what being "ortho" or "peri" means can be up to the individual. Orthosexual might suggest that the person's body image and sense of sexual identity are fairly "comfortable" or "conventional," while perisexual might suggest either certain "cross-sex" features (like very hairy females, or gynecomastia in males), or a degree of body dysphoria causing some pull toward transitioning, but not quite enough to cause the person to become trans. For example: "I'm a Stone Butch who almost started T, but realized that I was already way more masculine than most of the Bois, so I just decided to be Ultradyke -- I guess I'm perisexual." Likewise, orthogender(ed) suggests that the person has a sense of being fairly conforming or conventional about their gender identity: "I'm a Lipstick Lesbian without the lipstick, and I don't mind when people assume I'm het, so I'm pretty orthogender." On the other hand, perigendered means being near the edge or borderland: "When I go to Fest, people greet me and say how great it is that FTM is officially kosher on the Land -- but I tell them that `No, I get misgendered a lot and love it, but I'm definitely a womon!'" The peri label is especially meant to be Butch-friendly, and also to be a comeback to the weaponized assault of "cis": "Hey, I'm a trans-friendly radfem, but may I ask you please to call me perigendered or peri, because `cis' erases my Butchness! Thanks." ---------------------------------------------------- 4. Combining dimensions: What kind of trans are you? ---------------------------------------------------- We know that trans people can have all the quirks of sexual orientation as primo people, and that's true for gender roles, presentation, and comfort also. While ortho and peri alone tend to imply primo if we have no other information, we can simply write transortho and transperi to give both dimensions at once. Again, the concepts are totally flexible and have lots of room for self-definitions. For example: "I guess I'm mostly a transorthosexual Lesbian , but also a bit peri, since I have hairy arms and fairly broad shoulders." Or, "I'm transperisexual: there are some gay guys who are really happy with my metoidioplasty, and think that I'm quite the nelly, one of them joking that I look like a trans womon just starting HRT." Or: "I'm a transorthogendered man, the type that looks like an athletic Wall Street banker"; or "I'm definitely a transperigendered Lesbian and rather genderqueer, so I sort of shift between Soft Butch and Boi." Note that we can use terms combining sex/gender and orientation, like Lesbian or dyke, with a transortho or transperi category. So we can have up to four dimensions at a time. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5. The ethical side: Defending the continua and transition rights ----------------------------------------------------------------- As a reply to the "trans people are cooperating with the patriarchy in narrowing down options to `Conform or Transition,' our primo/trans and ortho/peri dimensions are designed to emphasize the immense amount of space and expression available within each sex or gender category, as well as the possibility of transitioning. The "gender-critical" claim that the right to transition implies gender conformity makes about as much sense, all things being equal, as the claim that the right to a passport in the U.S.A. means that you must either support the Pentagon and conform to the latest business class fashions, or else run off to live in Nepal. As Aldous Huxley wrote, "Nothing less than everything will do." The primo/trans and ortho/peri concepts are meant not to be precise or scientific, but to be one means by which people can express their own identities and choices with more degrees of freedom in both the geometrical and cultural senses. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 6. A Lesbian feminist note: Gender abolition or diversification? ---------------------------------------------------------------- If "queer/gender" theory emphasizes diversity and choice, feminism means recognizing and challenging oppressive hierarchies rather than simply mapping out the choices available under the status quo. These two processes are not incompatible, and each seems necessary but not sufficient to arrive at a liberated and post-patriarchal world which maximizes dignity, equality, cultural richness, and choice. While we Lesbian feminists often enjoy talking about "smashing the patriarchy," the problem is that smashing a system tends to imply the means of a "harder" system, which might replicate or mirror the oppressions we are challenging. However, "Dissolve the Patriarchy!" is exactly what some creative combination of traditional feminist theory (e.g. Second Wave and Woman-of-Color Intersectionalist or Womanist) and queer gender theory could do! Maybe it's Radical Feminist Gender-Querying Theory -- at once questioning gender and "queering it" in ways that tend to level the patriarchal hierarchy. So transitioning (and often arriving at some peri-ish destination, or at least knowing that choice is there), genderqueering about, and affirming the fluidity of orientations (not getting into "miscegenation laws of political correctness" where your feminist cred gets blown if you actually become partners with the person you love) result in the blurring of categories and roles which tends to break down the sex caste system. Contrary to some "trans-critical" rumors, this helps dissolve the patriarchy, just like reproductive technologies of the kind that are helping those beautiful Lesbian couples in the marriage equality cases have children. Will we see this slogan at the next Dyke March: "Political power comes out of a turkey baster!" Feminism also means critiquing our gender roles and games, not on how well they match someone's standard of political correctness, but on whether or how anyone is hurt. The range of feminist-compatible choices is vast but not limitless: sex without enthusiastic consent on both sides is a "preference" not on the map of ethical possibilities, obviously. There's also a sense of humility in not trying to define exactly what sex/gender may look like in post-patriarchy, or judge exactly how nature and nurture interact -- much less use one's speculations as a basis for politically othering and marginalizing one's sibling activists! But if primo/trans and ortho/peri at least avoid some friction between beloved sisters, and make the Lesbian drama at Fest and elsewhere more constructive as well as entertaining for all, then they will have served their modest purpose. Margo Schulter 30 August 2014