Down With Cis

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About

"Down With Cis" is an ironic slogan used either to mock cisphobia (hostility towards people who are not transgender) or transphobia (prejudice against transsexuals) on Tumblr. In April 2015, the phrase initially gained traction among the critics of cisphobic culture and social justice blogosphere after an anecdote about a cisgender individual who was allegedly ambushed by a gang of people dressed in t-shirts with the slogan began circulating on Tumblr, though it soon became a target of ridicule as the authenticity of the story was brought into question from the transgender community on the microblogging platform.

Origin

On April 4th, 2015, Tumblr user ForeverHonest^[1] posted a story about a friend who was allegedly ambushed by a gang of assailants wearing t-shirts with the slogan "Down with Cis" while walking down a street and beaten up in the manner of a drive-by assault. As of May 6th, 2015, the post has garnered over 9,000 notes.

While the author's intention behind the story remains murky, many readers from all sides quickly began expressing skepticism towards the authenticity of the story, with some interpreting it as a humorous fiction fabricated in the style of "that happened" posts on Reddit and others dismissing it as a satire of anecdotes exposing violence against gender minorities often shared by LGBTQ activists on Tumblr. With speculations running high that the story is most likely a hoax, the t-shirt slogan "Down with Cis" was ironically embraced by members of Tumblr's transgender community, prompting a series of photoshopped images with well-known TV show and meme characters bearing the slogan.

Terminology: Cis

Cis is an abbreviation for the terms cisgender and cissexual, which can be used to describe those whose gender identities match the sex they were assigned at birth (in contrast to those who identify themselves as transgender). The term is generally considered a neutral way of addressing non-transgender people, especially on sites such as Tumblr. It has, however, gained some notoriety due to being used by militant social justice bloggers and LGBTQ activists in negative contexts towards those who are deemed transphobic or prejudiced against non-standard gender identities, most notably encapsulated by the well-known slogan "Die Cis Scum.".

Spread

On April 7th, Tumblr user transgirlnausicaa^[3] created a post showing a t-shirt with the custom text "Down With Cis",^[4] which gathered more than 740 notes within the first month. However, through April, the Tumblr tag "down-with-cis"^[2] remained sluggish in growth until a month later on May 4th, when Tumblr user sistermeme^[5] posted a photoshopped image of the Steven Universe character Buck Dewey holding a t-shirt reading "Down With Cis" (shown below). In the following 48 hours, the post racked up over 6,300 notes.

On May 5th, Tumblr user Alienspeed^[6] posted an image showing Pepe the Frog from Matt Furie's comic series Boy’s Club wearing a shirt with the slogan (shown below, left). That same day, Tumblr user Skyerin^[7] created a text post asking people to reblog if they were on the "down with cis"-bus and another Tumblr user Sourcefieldmix^[8] created a text posting asking if the bus mentioned in the story also hosts parties. In less than 24 hours, the posts managed to gather more than 4,500 and 2,600 notes, respectively. Also on May 5th, YouTuber Vivid Grim^[9] uploaded a video showing a scene of the anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica with a shirt of the character Homura Akemi edited to read "Down with Cis" (shown below, right).

Due to the ambivalent meaning of the phrase and its usage by both camps in the social justice blogosphere (similar to "Die Cis Scum", a phrase initially created as a serious response by certain members of the transgender community) "Down With Cis" can be seen as a case example of Poe's Law. Because of this, deployment of the phrase has become a form of flame trolling by Tumblr's transgender community and supporters to gather replies taking it serious. On May 6th, Tumblr user Chandra Nalaar^[10] created a post highlighting around 30 reactions from people who believed Forever Honest's original fabricated story (shown below). In less than 24 hours, the post managed to gather more than 4,200 notes.