The term ‘cisphobia’ may have been coined by Piers Morgan in February of 2014 to describe the apparent prejudice of transgender people, a historically oppressed group, against cisgender people, a historically privileged one. However, the reality is that there is no systematic oppression of cisgender people simply because they are cisgender, as there is oppression against transgender people purely for the fact that they are transgender. As one article states, “for the most part, the trans folks who claim to be ‘cisphobic’ are doing so in a tongue-in-cheek way. It usually …show more content…
Essentially, trans people who claim to be ‘cisphobic’ have no time for BS from cis people… ‘cisphobia’ is a fallacy invented by transphobic boneheads who don’t know what the word ‘oppression’ actually means… the occasional [‘cisphobia] on the internet will never be as bad as cis people firing trans people because they’re trans, beating trans people because they’re trans, refusing lifesaving medical care to trans people because they’re trans, and literally murdering trans people because they’re trans.” For the most part, ‘cisphobia’ seems to be a term that has been created and used by cisgender individuals who object to transgender individuals blaming ‘all cisgender people’ for the transphobia that they face in everyday life simply for being transgender.
Similarly, ‘heterophobia’ has been used a propaganda slur by homophobes, who level the charge at any homosexual individual who stands up for their rights, justifying it often with sentiments such as “there is a gay pride, but no straight pride.” The fact of the matter is, disgust with homosexuality and the idea that it is unnatural, or unhealthy, or can somehow be ‘cured’ is in no way mimicked in society to make a case of heterophobia, …show more content…
This open question, what do you think of cisphobia and heterophobia, gave answers that could be categorised as three basic responses. As shown in the graph, just over 26% respondents believe that cisphobia and heterophobia does exist. Just over 36% of respondents believe that is does not exist, and just over 36% of respondents had never heard of either term or did not know what the terms meant. Therefore, the majority of people do not believe that cisphobia and heterophobia are issues in today’s society as much as transphobia and homophobia are, or it isn’t present enough in society as transphobia and homophobia for people to know what it is and have an educated opinion. One respondent commented that “I don’t believe that people can fear heterosexuality, or being cis.” Another mentioned that “they aren’t a thing because being cis and heterosexual is already accepted and most [LBGTQIAPD] people are still having a hard time being