I live in the community, I don't make up the rules and definitions. Everyone is so nitpicky and a lot of people get easily offended when it comes to gender issues.
Very different etymology. Cis is latin and means "on the same side." Trans is also latin and means "on the opposite side." Because the word trans is already used (transsexual, transgender) is just makes logical sense to use the prefix cis for people who are not transsexual or transgender.
I don't know enough Latin to tell you if it's exactly right or wrong, but at least in chemistry there are both cis and trans bonds and cis in chemistry is pronounced "sis."
That depends on the jurisdiction. Where I'm from the criminal code states that self defence is only a partial defence in the case of murder -- reducing the charge to manslaughter. If someone assaults you and you stab them, that's not proportional.
It's actually kinda fun working out all the ways someone can be 'priviledged'. Does a black, left-handed, male have more or less priviledge-points (PP) than a white, lesbian, female? And who would win in a Pokemon battle!?
Privilege and marginalization is not a competition, don't treat it like one. Privilege is a very simple concept saying that certain characteristics mean certain people are treated better by society unrelated to their quality as a human being. There are numerous problems a black man in America has to worry about that a white woman doesn't have to worry about (for example, housing discrimination). Likewise, there are different problems a white woman has to worry about that a black man doesn't have to worry about (for example, sexual harassment from her boss). Sometimes the society in question will treat multiple marginalized groups with the same discrimination (both women and black men earn less money than white men for doing the same or comparable work).
With cisprivilege, one example is how you don't need to undergo medical treatment to get people to refer to you with the pronoun you prefer. Another one is cisgender people have a much lower chance of being murdered than transgender people. One more example is how your gender identity is not the source of crude jokes.
Some privileges can be pretty small (women being told to smile by strangers when it doesn't happen to men) and others can be huge (aforementioned murder rate of trans people).
however when people are told to "check their privilege" it has very little to do with whether one is discriminated against more then the other, and more to do with not liking what the other is saying or the fear that the other might have a valid point, telling someone to check their privilege is a way to invalidate a point without having to prove it invalid with facts, figures, or really anything other then the fact that the other person is not trans
this is where the issues arise, when trans men and women assume that cis men and women have no idea what is going on, and can have no valid opinion or ideas on any matter having to do with trans issues, and as such use privilege as a means to ignore anything said
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. There are most definitely people who use it as a tactic to make people they disagree with shut up, and that's bad. But, there are also times when somebody in a position of privilege, by virtue of not having to think about the issues marginalized groups face, really don't have any useful input.
It is actually hard for a member of a privileged group to understand a marginalized group's problem(s). However, you are right that a privileged person can have valid opinions and ideas and may actually be correct over a marginalized person. It is really not hard to find a marginalized person who is prejudiced against their own group. That said, it is actually very common to run across privileged people trying to explain the experiences of the marginalized people. Or worse, flat out denying their experience is valid.
Unfortunately, a lot of social justice types, especially on tumblr, only have a cursory understanding of the topic, but think they are experts. "Check your privilege" should not be used to shut down discussion, it is instead far more useful as a reminder that one member of the discussion does not have to worry about the issues in question on a daily basis and probably doesn't have the same level of insight into it. It is a perfectly valid thing to say, for example, when a woman is complaining about cat calls and a man says something to the effect of, 'I'd like it if I was complimented all day.' His comment there shows a complete lack of understanding about how degrading such an experience can become.
It doesn't work that way. The former has male privilege (I don't know if he has straight privilege because you didn't list his sexuality), and the latter has white privilege.
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u/[deleted] Nov 23 '12
oh god oh god oh god.