this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2024
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I'm of two minds:
(If you want to know who says I don't get rights, look at the downvotes. They disagree with one of those. You pick)
It literally means "not trans" my dude. Do you get offended when people call you human?
I think it's disingenuous to argue that is the only usage of it. Plenty of words have colloquial meanings. There's plenty of assholes out there who use it venemously. Like a racist saying "He's black" when they mean the n word. "Fuck off and die, cishet!"
There has been a lot of shit on Twitter and Tumblr outright calling for genocide of cis people. Forced sterilization. Saying that if you are a cis white male you inherently are a bad person. A rapist. Etc. Etc.
It's bullshit lashing out, and doesn't truly amount to anything. That said, it can wear on you to be vilified for what you were born as, for things you can't control.
Huh, imagine that.
It strikes me as particularly ridiculous when this is brought up, there usually are a lot of responses along the lines of "Well now you know what we've dealt with!" "Poor majority person is suddenly hurt when they're treated the same way they've been treating the rest of us" etc.
I don't think many people miss that point. But it's still a shitty thing to do, and it can feel like gaslighting attempts when reasonable people make responses like yours.
"Negro literally means black, do you get offended when people call you the color of your skin?" ... let's start the countdown to people falling over themselves to say it's not the same. It isn't the same, but the parallels should give you pause. Hopefully cause some thought.
Does that mean that if enough of a minority of people use a neutral word with ill intent, other people should be careful of using that word? For instance, if a bunch of racists started using the word "black" venomously day and night for months, should everyone else start considering the word "black" to be a slur? What if it's a term that's otherwise used by scholars with ample consensus? And if there's no other other to refer to it, and by avoiding it, you cannot refer to the concept at all?
That sounds like you've described the euphemism treadmill, like how moron was a medical term before it was an insult.
Welcome to the minefields of communication and the euphemism treadmill.
I'm not saying we let the assholes win. Keep using it as the original meaning, offset those who would use the term otherwise.
I just wanted to add some important perspective as to how and why some people could view it as being used as a slur. Less "don't use this term", more "If someone gets offended when you use this term, don't be condescending to them about the literal definition, bear in mind the term is also used in very negative ways"