Elon Musk has declared that “the words ‘cis’ or ‘cisgender’ are considered slurs” on his Twitter platform. The Silicon Valley billionaire says the originator of these terms – used for people whose gender identity matches their sex – is a “contemptible creep”.
Musk made the comments in response to a user who complained of receiving “a slew of messages from trans activists calling me ‘cissy’ and telling me that I am ‘cis’ ‘whether or not I like it’.”
“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,” Musk said.
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2023
He added that “the contemptible creep that manufactured the term ‘cis’ has serious problems,” referring to German sexologist Volkmar Sigusch, who argued in the 1970s that “children would not suffer from sexual relations with adults and that those relations should not be punished”.
German media published an interview with Sigusch in 2011 in which he said it was “very important to approach pedophiles and pedosexuals and offer them therapy.” He said those who cannot be reached by therapy should be dealt with in “accordance with the law” but added that “[w]e are all potential murderers, and we are all potential rapists and abusers.”
Musk recently accepted that Twitter would abide by the European Union’s speech rules.
