On a whim from Elon, X now treats “cisgender” as an insult

If you write the words “cis” or “cisgender” about our rules,” the warning states. You can continue publishing the post or delete it.

Cisgender is an adjective used to refer to people whose gender identity matches the sex assigned at birth. In contrast, the word transgender refers to people whose gender identity does not correspond to the sex assigned at birth.

These terms are commonly used in social and medical contexts. The Canadian government uses these classifications – transgender, cisgender and non-binary – in its census. The American Psychology Association also includes these terms in its glossary.

Since last June, the owner of X, Elon Musk, has claimed that the words “cis” and “cisgender” are “considered insults” on the platform. But only more recently have these words triggered full-screen pop-ups warning users that their message could be a violation of the platform’s rules. According to TechCrunch testing, this pop-up only seems to appear when using the mobile app. Even if words like “cis” and “cisgender” are flagged, some slurs targeting Black, transgender and Jewish people can be posted without repercussions.

“Elon Musk has been engaged in this disingenuous and inherently bigoted effort to redefine this term for nearly a year. The list of his hateful speech and behavior is too long to list,” a spokesperson for GLAAD, a nonprofit LBGTQ rights group, told TechCrunch. “This appears to be another of Musk’s endless exercises to cater to his new right-wing extremist user base of X – a coded, but very clear, signal from the company that transgender people are not not welcome on the platform, and another strong signal. indicator to advertisers that X is not a safe platform for their brands.

A spokesperson for X did not respond to a request for comment.

Under Musk’s ownership, the platform formerly known as Twitter has become actively more hostile to gender non-conforming people. In November, slavery. Last year, X also removed a policy put in place in 2018 that banned targeted naming or misgendering of trans people.