It's no reflection on trans folks, but I hate being labelled cis. Don't identify as that, don't want to. Apparently saying that makes me a bigot, despite the fact that a chunk of my work is specifically supporting LGBTQI folks. Derp.
@Witchsmeller I know a lot of people who don't like the words cis and trans for themselves, and some of them their gender matches the one they were assigned and some of them it doesn't.
But if your gender truly is the same as the one you were assigned at birth, being grouped with other cis people is appropriate. If you don't want to be grouped with other cis people, perhaps you are in fact trans?
@Witchsmeller But if your gender is truly the same as the one you were assigned at birth and you don't want to be grouped with other cis people... Yeah, you're no ally.
@cassolotl Have you thought that maybe I don't want to be grouped or labelled at all?
@Witchsmeller That's something that's common to cis and trans people in approximately equal amounts, I think! But if the gender you were assigned at birth is the same as your gender, you AT LEAST share many experiences with cisgender people - in the same way that you share experiences with other people whose gender is the same as yours, other people born in the same area as you, people who speak the same language as you, etc.
@cassolotl Yes, absolutely. I recognise that and completely agree. However, is still doesn't mean I want to, or have to, choose to identify as cis. Do you see what I mean? To me it's yet another label, yet another divider.
@Witchsmeller Sure, but that's a different thing from other people grouping you based on characteristics. You don't have to identify as cis or feel cis, but if your gender is the same as the one you were assigned at birth then you will be automatically grouped with cisgender people because language is about communicating a lot of complex information using very little effort!
@Witchsmeller Labels are for many trans people not dividers but a way to express that they experience the world in a very different way. Marginalised groups find strength and community and common ground with labels. There is sometimes value in acknowledging difference, *especially* when you're acknowledging the common negative experiences of being in a particular group, so that that marginalisation can be investigated and eliminated.
@Witchsmeller So for example, someone saying that we should remove all barriers and say that trans people and cis people are all the same, we're all human, is profoundly harmful. I will never experience the privileges that come with being cisgender, just like I will never experience the disadvantages that come with being not-white. It's important to talk about that so that we can counteract it and make things more equal, no?