I don’t know where to begin on this. It would be like someone saying “blue” is a slur because they don’t believe in colors? I suppose I’ll start with definitions, in case you aren’t aware. “Cisgender,” sometimes just abbreviated as “cis” is a term for people whose gender identity matches their assigned gender at birth. If the doctor said, “Congrats, it’s a girl!” and you identify as a woman, congrats, you’re cis. It’s the inverse of “transgender” or “trans.” A transgender person will find that their gender identity doesn’t match what they were declared at birth. Oddly enough, transphobic people like Musk may state that, obviously, transgender is a real term, but cisgender is not “real” and is actually a “slur.”
There’s, of course, irony here, as transphobes insist on calling trans people by the wrong gender, but don’t like being called by a term that accurately depicts their own gender identity.
Regardless, Elon Musk has announced that “cis” and “cisgender” “are considered slurs on this platform [Twitter]” and that users could face temporary suspension for it. This from the guy who allows harassment of trans people and misgendering on his site, both of which were not allowed on Twitter prior to Musk taking the platform over.
Much like Truth Social and Parler, Twitter’s “free speech” network quickly just became “hate speech only.”
Twitter: Hate is the Law of the Land
When Elon Musk bought Twitter, he quickly made some drastic changes. Neo-Nazis were back, people and brands banned for vile transphobia and harassment were invited back, even Trump has been invited back. It had a near immediate effect, with the site getting flooded with hate speech. That hasn’t gone down. In fact, GLAAD researched hate speech against LGBTQ+ people on various social platforms. Their yearly Social Media Safety Index measures just how safe a platform is for LGBTQ+ people. Most platforms improved their scores over last year. However, Twitter is, by far, the most dangerous social network for LGBTQ+ people, and is the only one that has gotten worse since year. Twitter scored a 33% on their index. Instagram, the top performer, scored a 63%. No social platform is good for LGBTQ+ people, especially not trans people, but Twitter, specifically, has gone backwards.
Musk’s new announcement will make a bad situation worse. Twitter’s quickly becoming like other hate speech networks, where scientific terms, actual facts, or the scientific process itself, is banned and questioned, while disinformation and hate spread freely. Cisgender is a real term to describe a real state of being. It’s been seen in German as far back as 1914, over a century ago, and the earliest recorded use in English was in 1994. None of these, from the term “cisgender” to the existence of transgender people, are new. The outrage about people simply existing, however, is somewhat new. At least, it’s new to this generation. Genocide has always been an issue in humanity, fear of “the other” turning to violence. Still, this newfound love for hate is certainly a growing trend.
Elon Musk is a cisgender man. He has allegedly had at least one gender-affirming procedure, hair plugs. He disagreed with his ex, Grimes, over trans people publicly, shortly before their breakup. His transgender daughter has disowned him. Some people, when chastised for their inconsiderate actions, double down. We can only hope that one day he will see the damage he’s done, not only to his own life or the company he now owns, but to the lives of others. But, judging on his history, I won’t hold my breath.
Musk may have given in to science denial, but you don’t have to. Mastodon is a perfectly functional and customizable alternative to Twitter, and I highly recommend you check it out.