Can a cisgendered actor play a trans character?

balky12 said:
Gender identity is just the new fad imo.

I put people who use words like cisgender into the same group as self harmers/ emos/ etc.

People who want to be 'different'. Until over the generation it actually becomes quite trendy, then people find something new.

However the new fads have to get weirder and weirder to try and keep exclusivity.

/popcorn.gif
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Fad... Being trans is a fad?
Is homosexuality a fad too?
 
Diddums said:
What sexual agenda someone has is nobody else's business, so why this whole issue exists is beyond me.
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Really? So if you identified as a straight male, that's how you saw yourself, and how you based your entire sex life, you think it is none of your business if this pretty girl you are hooking up with in a night club is actually a transgender?

I have nothing against transgenders, however I would like to be made aware of the fact fairly sharpish if things were looking like going that way...
 
dalehitchy1 said:
Fad... Being trans is a fad?
Is homosexuality a fad too?
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I didn't say being trans was... clearly there is something at play, medically or otherwise.

I said using terms such as cisgender. Doesn't facebook have like 467 different gender types?

Also /popcorn.gif kind of highlighted my overall seriousness of the topic. It is becoming boring fast.
 
balky12 said:
Really? So if you identified as a straight male, that's how you saw yourself, and how you based your entire sex life, you think it is none of your business if this pretty girl you are hooking up with in a night club is actually a transgender?

I have nothing against transgenders, however I would like to be made aware of the fact fairly sharpish if things were looking like going that way...
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Please tell me you're not being facetious for the sake of it. Of course that's their business then, what I meant was people who shouldn't have anything to do with them.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Sexual agenda? If you're talking about sexuality, you obviously don't know what cisgender is, so I'm not sure why you're carrying the flag for common sense.
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Of course I know what it is. I refuse to accept it as a word however because all this is a load of toss. Someone can be anything they want, and until it affects me, I couldn't care less just as much as I wouldn't want people to give a toss if I suddenly wanted to become a woman, homosexual, cat, whatever.

The issue here, as it always is with these quite frankly stupid arguments, is that it's very rarely the people involved who have an issue, it's other people creating an issue on behalf of them, which, to be blunt, is ridiculous.

If you want to speak up for other people, then do it for a worthy cause, not for people who are perfectly comfortable with their way of life and are able to speak for themselves.

This "poor them, poor kitties" mentality needs to die. It's ********.
 
Diddums said:
Of course I know what it is. I refuse to accept it as a word however because all this is a load of toss. Someone can be anything they want, and until it affects me, I couldn't care less just as much as I wouldn't want people to give a toss if I suddenly wanted to become a woman, homosexual, cat, whatever.

The issue here, as it always is with these quite frankly stupid arguments, is that it's very rarely the people involved who have an issue, it's other people creating an issue on behalf of them, which, to be blunt, is ridiculous.

If you want to speak up for other people, then do it for a worthy cause, not for people who are perfectly comfortable with their way of life and are able to speak for themselves.

This "poor them, poor kitties" mentality needs to die. It's ********.
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Just because you don't accept something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. In the enormous majority of cases you will be labelled as male - a label. For some people, they ask for you to define how you identify your gender as well as what their genitals say. I can't see the issue with this personally.

There are many things that one could ignore because it doesn't affect them. Sounds like putting your head in the sand to me.

I do agree with you regarding the argument that's referred to in the OP - it is stupid. And I'll speak for who I want, thanks very much.

I think you're very callous and I hope you never suffer from anything that makes you anything less than perfect.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Just because you don't accept something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. In the enormous majority of cases you will be labelled as male - a label. For some people, they ask for you to define how you identify your gender as well as what their genitals say. I can't see the issue with this personally.

There are many things that one could ignore because it doesn't affect them. Sounds like putting your head in the sand to me.

I do agree with you regarding the argument that's referred to in the OP - it is stupid. And I'll speak for who I want, thanks very much.

I think you're very callous and I hope you never suffer from anything that makes you anything less than perfect.
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I think you're getting the wrong idea of my point here, maybe I'm explaining it poorly. My point is I don't judge people based on anything unless it affects me. I don't care if people are black, white, male, female, straight, gay, disabled, etc. You get the idea. To me all people are the same and those unfortunate enough to be in a difficult situation regarding their mental or physical state still get treated by me as if they're perfectly normal people. I'm not concescending, I don't look down on them, I accept people for who they are and who they choose to be regardless of their lifestyle choices, sexual orientation, etc. Of course I'll hold a door open for a lady or a disabled person, I'll let an elderly person in front of me in a queue, etc. That's just being polite, not special treatment. Sadly some view this as "special treatment" which I disagree with.

Does that make sense? (not trying to be an arse here, just trying to clear this up, I'm not some ****** who doesn't care)



EDIT: also, when I said "you" I meant in general, not you in particular.
 
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I appreciate what you're saying, I do the same. You are referring only to the way you treat people, though.

You're disregarding terminology that people use simply because you don't think it's relevant. OK, fine, I don't use it either. I don't know a single transexual person, so there's really no reason to. However, the attitude that you have appears to be that you **** on their terminology because you don't think it's necessary. That's not right in my opinion. They use the terminology to subjugate their perception of the world, and just because it's different to your perception, that does not make it wrong.

I do think that you and them are guilty of the same thing, but their attitude appears to be inclusive rather than exclusive.

There's no way that you and I will see eye to eye on this.
 
I get what your saying.

I cant help but feel the idea of applying labels to everything eventually becomes detrimental to helping a cause for equality and acceptance.
 
In a society where we should be trying to remove segregation and break down walls it seems silly that people want to segregate themselves off from the rest.
 
Avenged7Fold said:
I get what your saying.

I cant help but feel the idea of applying labels to everything eventually becomes detrimental to helping a cause for equality and acceptance.
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I don't disagree, but our languages have always been evolving. Why stop now?

anticonscience said:
In a society where we should be trying to remove segregation and break down walls it seems silly that people want to segregate themselves off from the rest.
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I think the transgender community is probably hundreds of times less segregated that it has ever been. Maybe right now we perceive it as segregation, but that's within this framework of transgender being part of normal society nowadays.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
I appreciate what you're saying, I do the same. You are referring only to the way you treat people, though.

You're disregarding terminology that people use simply because you don't think it's relevant. OK, fine, I don't use it either. I don't know a single transexual person, so there's really no reason to. However, the attitude that you have appears to be that you **** on their terminology because you don't think it's necessary. That's not right in my opinion. They use the terminology to subjugate their perception of the world, and just because it's different to your perception, that does not make it wrong.

I do think that you and them are guilty of the same thing, but their attitude appears to be inclusive rather than exclusive.

There's no way that you and I will see eye to eye on this.
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No. The only term I think is stupid is cisgender. I perfectly understand the requirement for transexual, homosexual, etc. I'm not saying any of it is wrong, if I meet someone who is transgender I won't even use that word as it's their business whether they tell others or not, not mine. I can understand their reasoning for the termsinology, but to be perfectly honest unless someone is seriously injured and I need to tell a paramedic that they're transgender I really can't see any need for me to use it. I'll just say "meet bob" rather than "meet bob, he's transgender".
 
There are other terms that are used which are very similar, aside from cisgender. I can't remember them, I'm afraid.

I don't think that the transgender community is trying to force their terminology on us. I think that it's exclusively relevant only when you're talking within that community. Otherwise, it obviously isn't going to mean anything to anyone.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
I don't disagree, but our languages have always been evolving. Why stop now?
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Not saying to stop, just that we should make it the primary focus of conflicts. After doing so, many of these conflicts would seem far less controversial.

Like that thread yesterday where the media portrayed two drunk guys getting into a argument with a gang of youths, which ended in a stabbing, as a hate crime against the Polish. In reality it was likely the two guys who got kicked out from a bar moments before for being rowdy, encountered the youths and whatever minor conflicted started, escalated into the horrible result, rather than a premeditated hate crime. Labelling of them being Polish was the centre point for the media story. By all means call a horse a horse but focusing on it can change the story and controversy.

Like i said, i think this is a non story because to me, it is about casting an accomplished actor to portray a role which the film maker envisions. It is not about equal opportunities or denying trans people, yet focusing on the fictional characters gender makes it seem so.
 
Exactly, which is why these people getting annoyed should really just get a life as it's got nothing to do with them.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
OK, fine, I don't use it either. I don't know a single transexual person, so there's really no reason to. However, the attitude that you have appears to be that you **** on their terminology because you don't think it's necessary. That's not right in my opinion. They use the terminology to subjugate their perception of the world, and just because it's different to your perception, that does not make it wrong.

I do think that you and them are guilty of the same thing, but their attitude appears to be inclusive rather than exclusive.
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Well 'CIS' is often used in a derogatory manner, is it OK for some elderly white people to carry on referring to black people as 'coloureds' because that is their terminology from decades ago?
 
Diddums said:
No. The only term I think is stupid is cisgender. I perfectly understand the requirement for transexual, homosexual, etc. I'm not saying any of it is wrong, if I meet someone who is transgender I won't even use that word as it's their business whether they tell others or not, not mine. I can understand their reasoning for the termsinology, but to be perfectly honest unless someone is seriously injured and I need to tell a paramedic that they're transgender I really can't see any need for me to use it. I'll just say "meet bob" rather than "meet bob, he's transgender".
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In fairness if you don't use the term cisgender what term would you use? At least "cis" is the Latin opposite of "trans".
 
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