Elon Musk bans the word “cisgender” from Twitter & calls it a “slur”

Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Twitter, let it be known Tuesday that he regards the terms “cis” and “cisgender” as slurs.

“The words ‘cis’ or ‘cisgender’ are considered slurs on this platform,” Musk tweeted in response to a post.

Related:

Elon Musk kicks off Pride Month by tripling down on transphobia

Twitter’s owner Elon Musk said that gender-affirming healthcare providers should be imprisoned without parole.

He added in another tweet: “The contemptible creep that manufactured the term ‘cis’ has serious problems. Ignore him.” 

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For the record, a cisgender woman coined the term in 1994.

Musk has amped up his public disdain of all things trans since his transgender daughter, 18 at the time, applied for a legal name change in 2022.

She cited the reason for the formal request as “gender identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape, or form.”

Musk’s outburst came a year to the day news of his daughter’s name change request broke.

The Space X and Tesla owner’s edict responded to another Twitter user’s objections to the terms.

“Yesterday, 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.”

Apparently, Musk did precisely that and lashed out with a comment liked by over 170,000 users.

“Repeated, targeted harassment against any account will cause the harassing accounts to receive, at minimum, temporary suspensions. The words ‘cis’ or ‘cisgender’ are considered slurs on this platform.”

Twitter’s current hateful conduct policy reads: “We prohibit targeting others with repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category.”

It was unclear if Musk’s eruption amounted to official policy, but crystal clear that the billionaire felt bullied.

Also unclear: if Musk will sanction himself for calling the creator of the “cisgender” signifier a creep. Twitter dropped its ban on misgendering in April.