It comes from the latin.

[andrewducker]

[Poll #1416472]

Kinda busy right now - anyone care to drop in an example of each of them?

Comments

[marrog.livejournal.com]

How about...

Cisgender Privilege: On forms, you never have a problem with the often mandatory 'male' or 'female' choice you are presented with. You will never have to tick a box that you are not. You will never want or need an 'other/not specified' box.

It's wordier, but then, cisgender privilege is easily the most consistently complex and subtle of all of these options.

The thing that strikes me as most hideously unacceptable about cisgender privilege is those who have the personal belief that whatever gender (or lack thereof) a person has chosen/found to identify themselves with, they reserve the "right" to call them by their "true gender" or their "biological gender" or whatever because otherwise you're stepping on their taxonomical rights somehow. But then, that one gets imposed on homosexuals as well, and bisexuals in particular.

[meihua.livejournal.com]

*nods* Good example, I rail against this quite a bit. I find it hard to explain to people why it's such a big deal, though. It's about being told, all the time, "People like you don't exist."

[marrog.livejournal.com]

*Nods* Every single time I check the 'female' box in forms I think how lucky I am not to have to look for an 'other'. I have some issues with some aspects of trans politics, but there can be nothing more horrible than constantly having to say that you're something you're not, or choose the 'closest' option. By the time I was extensively filling in forms there was a sexuality option that included me, and I was glad about that - although the absence of an option (since before they'd just assume straight and not ask) is very different from having to choose the wrong one. I look forward to the day when both options can just be removed (again, in the case of sexual orientation) because we no longer need to keep track for 'diversity' figures.

Regarding your other comment, women and gays still get mocked on the street plenty. I imagine transfolk (who are visibly so that is, plenty who aren't) get mocked more than, say, a woman in a teeshirt and jeans, but not necessarily more than two guys hand-in-hand, or a fat woman with glasses, or a woman in a short skirt, or (cue realm I have no knowledge of) a South Asian woman in a sari. I say 'women' mostly because guys do generally get the least abuse, even within their subsets (with the exception of openly gay men vs lesbians, where I think in couples guys probably get the most serious abuse - I've never felt in physical danger walking hand in hand with a girl).

I guess the test would be to send a guy in a short skirt and a woman in a short skirt past a mob of chavs and see which one got the most abuse, *wry grin*.

[meihua.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about this over lunch, and I can probably add one more thing to "white privilege" and "recipient of male privilege" - the feeling that I can wade right in and give examples of all sorts of privilege without having a comprehensive understanding of them. ;)

[andrewducker]

See, I'd argue that that's a good thing. If we wait until we're 100% certain of something then we'll be waiting forever. Much better to start with a partial idea and work on it from there.

[andrewducker]

Yup. It's simple politeness to refer to people by whatever terms they would like to be referred to.

[cybik.livejournal.com]

I remember getting into a very heated argument with an ex-flatmate and his girlfriend because I referred to someone as "her" and "she" and they were very resolutely saying "he" and "him". Flatmate said something like "if he gets his penis cut off he'll regret it, there is no way he will not, because I know I would". Obviously I argued the point, but he was saying things like "you don't know because you don't have a penis," which just made me realise how glad I was that a) I was born physically and mentally the same gender and b) how glad I was that I would be moving away from him soon.

GRR, it still makes me angry to think about it!

[seph-hazard.livejournal.com]

"you don't know because you don't have a penis" just makes me splorfle. I mean, I want to make it the subtitle of a new feminist blog or something. It's just too perfect.

[broin.livejournal.com]

"you don't know because you don't have a penis"

Yes, because The Penis is the source and repository of all male identity, ever, forever.

Oy.

[cybik.livejournal.com]

It was a statement of more than usual stupidity.

[zz]

God knows why, but to register an account with Ebuyer.com, you not only *have* to choose a salutation, but also a gender, and your gender has to match your salutation's...