“How astonishing it is that language can almost mean,
— Jack Gilbert, “The Forgotten Dialect of the Heart“
and frightening that it does not quite.”
‘Labels are for cans,’ yet you do see ‘trans’ 6-min ⏰⏰
The ‘soup can logic’ of using ‘trans’ but not ‘cis’
When people aren’t comfortable observing that some people are cis, often their discomfort rests in a belief that trans people aren’t people but soup cans.
Biologicals first! 2-min ⏰
OK, said the pack of hungry tigers
A slogan like ‘Biological first!’ might not work out so well for them. If we’re tied up by hungry cartoon tigers, our best bet is to untie each other.
‘Cis’ or ‘biological’? 2-min ⏰
They’re both adjectives, but we have preferences
No, ‘cis’ doesn’t imply that trans people are better. ‘Cis’ implies that trans people are equal. People who object to this equalization are transphobes.
The ‘cis is a slur’ trope serves a transphobic purpose (DD)
When labels don’t feel right 5-min ⏰⏰
She had two moms, and she didn’t like the word ‘straight’
If we have a stake in a shared outcome, we might avoid declaring how we’re different and separate from others, especially to imply our superiority.
Baldness isn’t just physical 6-min ⏰⏰
It’s also performative.
Labels describe how we live. Even when they describe reality, they’re about perceptions and performances. How we live interprets who we are.
The system always leaves someone out 5-min ⏰
It doesn’t mean the person is strange
Any time we make a system of classification, someone won’t fit. This exclusion might say more about our need to classify people than about them.
The freedom to be left alone 4-min ⏰
We should have the choice, but we don’t always have it
In the past, when prompted to think about whether I’m ‘out’ or ‘queer,’ I’ve thought about the transgressive sense and about the meaning of visibility.
Tucker Lieberman 