BREAKING: Elon Musk says ‘cis’ and ‘cisgender’ are considered slurs on Twitter

'Cis' and 'cisgender' are now 'considered slurs' on Twitter.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk declared that the word "cis," a derogatory term for a person who is not trans, is now considered a slur on Twitter.

"Repeated, targeted harassment against any account will cause the harassing accounts to receive, at minimum, temporary suspensions," Musk said.

"The words 'cis' or 'cisgender' are considered slurs on this platform."

Musk was replying to a tweet from commentator James Esses, who said that he was harassed and called named after saying he didn't want to be called "cis."

"Yesterday," Esses wrote, "after posting a Tweet saying that I reject the word ‘cis’ and don’t wish to be called it, I receive a slew of messages from trans activists calling me 'cissy' and telling me that I am ‘cis’ 'whether or not I like it'. Just imagine if the roles were reversed."

Esses' original tweet on the matter was a rejection of the term entirely. 

"I formally and publicly declare that I reject the label of 'cis'. I don’t believe in gender ideology. I don’t self-identify as 'cis'. Using this term makes me feel unsafe and is demonstrative of your hatred towards me. Anyone who uses the term 'cis' to describe me is a bigot."

The term signifies the creation of a new binary: trans and cis, and makes a judgment about non-trans people. Many people who hold views critical of gender ideology, aka those who know that biological sex is a constant in reality, often reject the term as pejorative.

The person who coined the term in 1994 told HuffPo that the only issue with the word is the people who take issue with the word.

"The word is a threat because it linguistically separates biological sex from socially constructed categories of 'woman' and 'man.' That gender is a social construction undermines heteronormativity, critical to defending patriarchal sex roles and procreation. It is not surprising that those who have garnered dominance and privilege from traditional gender roles feel threatened and compelled to lash out," Dane Defosse wrote.

All this by way of saying it's not a slur, it's just a term for people who aren't trans, and if they don't like it, it's because they are uncomfortable undermining heteronormativity.

Prior to Musk's takeover of Twitter, it was against the terms of service to "misgender," meaning to use a gendered term for someone that referred to their biological sex and not their self-identified gender. Commentator Meghan Murphy, and others, actually lost their accounts over this. But there was no consequence for calling someone "cis" even if that person didn't identify that way.

While trans was allowed to be a chosen identity, "cis" was imposed. Now, no one will have to accept the identifier of "non-trans" simply because they abide by reality.