Trans and Cis, an adjective discussion
This article was published ten years ago. “Withdraw, Draw With” celebrated a new term, “gender fluid”. A year ago, this article was shared. “Trans-mania” discusses personal reflections on recent changes in health forms.
A lot has happened since then. First, some definitions:
Trans (an adjective) relating to or being an arrangement of two very closely linked genes in the heterozygous condition in which one mutant allele and one wild-type allele are on each of the two homologous chromosomes.
Cis (an adjective) relating to or being an arrangement of two very closely linked genes in the heterozygous condition in which both mutant alleles are on one chromosome and both wild-type alleles are on the homologous chromosome.
The only difference between their definitions, (trans and cis), is found in one word change: either “one” or “both” are used in identical sentences. Merriam-Webster finds these adjectives equally defined and legitimate.
The word “heterozygous” is explained this way: “meaning that just one tree can produce an incredible variation in offspring, leaving no two apple trees the same”. I’m not a geneticist, yet this sounds as if the difference between them is easily discoverable, as well as common.
The reason for this piece? A noticing, that brings to mind another moment in our collective history, the Salem witch trials. I see an alarming trend to stand firmly on principle and from there cast a wide net of judgment. This trend is showing up on every “side”. It’s become the debate of a frenzied and obsessed media, (both mainstream and alternative), and it all revolves around a subset of less than 1% of the global population. This only makes sense if your goal is to foster division, which is the lowest-hanging fruit.
The witch trials, which we have all heard about, took place 333 years ago, long before the World Wide Web. According to Wikipedia, they happened when one doctor diagnosed about 200 different people, approximately 1% of Salem’s population at the time and aged 9 to 83, as witches. Records indicate that ten percent of those accused, or 20 people, were executed.
There’s plenty more to this story, yet it illustrates a persistent tendency, among humans, to segregate and deny what is misunderstood. The trials seem archaic, tragic, and more like hysteria today. What will history tell us about right now?
Growing up, I heard this saying: “Opinions are like a**holes, everybody’s got one”. Cis and Trans are adjectives with definitions. How you feel about their use is your opinion, and you are entitled to have it. Imho, the entitlement ends there. There is nothing inherent in either word that grants you the authority to dictate the morality of using it to define yourself or anyone else.
We are ignoring the elephant in the room. What feels most startling of all is that, somehow, the topic fosters and even applauds the blatant disregard, disrespect, and disavowing of another human being.
We are in the midst of transformation, (another trans word), and it is happening to every one of us. Approval is not necessary, yet acceptance sure would help to get things moving in a more expansive direction. These words aren’t the same, although they are sometimes misused and obscured so that it can feel that approval implies acceptance, or that to be accepted, approval is necessary. Approval implies an outside authority. It highlights a hierarchy of some sort, whether actual or situational. Acceptance is a gentler term, and it promotes equality.
We do not have to agree. We have to allow. “Have to” if what we are looking for is expansion and growth. Judgment constricts as fiercely as any chain does.
It is both fascinating and troubling that some members of the “peace and free love” era of the 60s and 70s are now advocating and regulating discrimination as well as mocking a segment of the population. I don’t claim to know what happened, but I’m pretty sure they are unaware that they are walking contradictions. Somehow, fear has entered the picture. Dominance and control seem to be favored over anything else. They hide behind words like “science” and “religion”, (Which, in this case, end up standing on the same side).
If there is a god or practice or group or law that promotes division or separation, it might help to notice the bright red flag they are waving. These things feel constricting or suffocating. If not to you, then to someone else in our society. There are no books, the bible included, that we need to follow blindly, without also holding a deep consideration of our collective humanity.
I think about the strength of character it would take to willingly self-define in a way that invites jokes, hatred, sometimes violence, and ostracism. It is brutal to grow up and become who we are meant to be, under the most “typical” of circumstances. Some of the most cruel taunts litter the halls of our junior high schools, where everyone pretty much hates themselves.
The drive to define ourselves is held deep within us all. It is what makes us human. Our pets and other animals don’t struggle with how to present themselves. They merely are, whatever runs through them.
It is our humanity that asks us to declare ourselves. We look to each other for reflections; of ourselves. If what I reflect is uncomfortable for you, that doesn’t make me illegitimate, wrong, or immoral. It does, however, say something about you, the one being reflected.
Change is so damn uncomfortable. We’ve all had growing pains, puberty, and a myriad of disruptions to a peaceful heart. They are a fact of life and growth and cannot be avoided. We are in the midst of societal change, and it’s not fun. It’s not wrong either. It’s awesome if you think about it.
Ten years ago, there was an inkling of this change with the term “gender fluid”. We’ve moved from those tender beginnings to an all-out assault on anything self-defined as something “other”; “Other than what someone in authority has declared it is”.
There have been alternative sexual and physical expressions in the race forever. It isn’t that there are new ways to do this thing called “being human”. It is that we are coming out of the dark, showing ourselves, and asking to be allowed. Period.
If we are uncomfortable with something or someone that we encounter, we should probably look within first. Things to ask ourselves are questions about harm, safety, and shame. Is this person, place, or thing showcasing something I don’t want to look at, something about me or my choices? Is this person inhibiting my ability to function freely? Is this thing sanctioning abuse or discrimination? Why does it have this effect on me?
It seems clear that a giant boot of authority is attempting to stamp out gender fluidity and alternative expressions of self. This will not succeed. The deep truth of humanity won’t go there. How this works is that for something to continue, it must be carried forward by the massive weight of approval from the population; it has to be “allowed” to persist. The Salem witch trials illustrate that truth.
The loudest voices will have you thinking that they are in control, but they have no more lasting effect on the outcome than each of us does. We, the human collective, make up the race. I am not sure what the outcome will be now, yet history will reflect it for us, with 20/20 precision.
We are at a pivotal moment in our own becoming. It is asking us to self-define. Some of us are doing that out loud, and the rest of us could learn a lot from them instead of disregarding them. At the very least, they deserve respect, consideration, and even admiration for their strength of character. They’ve chosen the road not taken.
Perhaps there will one day be new words, new sports and bathroom categories, and new clothing to fit our expanded definitions. We are in the middle of massive change. Every single one of us. It promises to be exhilarating and progressive, for that is the nature of things.
We are a giant amoeba, moving, adapting, and reaching for the next best thing. Let’s watch out for those red flags, applaud having an abundance of choices, and pull everyone with us on this ride, regardless of adjective use.
I believe in you. I believe in us. I believe in love.
