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#StartCissShaming Hashtag Goes Controversial Following UK Court Ruling

December 02, 2020

A new topic has been trending on Twitter about shaming cis people has started under the hashtag #startcisshaming. The trend was focused on shaming straight people as a joke with many getting in on the trend in the hopes that straight people would come to better understand what it is like to be made fun of for being Trans. However, the fun, joking attitude of the hashtag changed when news broke that it would be much more difficult for hormone blockers to be given to children under the age of 16 in Britain following a ruling by the British high court, according to an article done by U.S. News. Keira Bell, as someone who had regretted taking the hormone blockers, was one of the claimants who pushed for the verdict.

“I wish (the judgement) had been made before I embarked on the devastating experiment of puberty blockers. My life would be very different today,” she said outside the court.

Many Trans supporters Twitter users started post about the news with most having a more negative reaction to the ruling, talking about how people that young should still have the right to choose what gender they want to be.

“#startcisshaming REMINDER TO BRING AWARENESS TO THE UK LEGAL RULING BANNING HORMONE STOPPERS FOR PEOPLE UNDER 16,” one user said.

“// suicide / transphobia #startcisshaming uk trans teens are in danger. hormone blockers may be banned for people under the age of 16. this could lead to mass s*icide. Horome blockers can be reversed. +” another user said.

// suicide / transphobia#startcisshaming uk trans teens are in danger. hormone blockers may be banned for people under the age of 16. this could lead to mass s*icide. Horome blockers can be reversed. +

— Pizzaplex (@DREAMlNNIT) December 1, 2020

However, there also were many people on Twitter who supported the ruling, claiming that children under the age of 16 were not yet equipped to make such a life changing decision.

“I think they made this law because they did a study and found that a good amount of UK kids who took hormon blockers regretted it when they were older. The controversy of this law is, are kids really capable of making such an important decision. It’s a double edged sword.” one user commented.

I think they made this law because they did a study and found that a good amount of UK kids who took hormon blockers regretted it when they were older. The controversy of this law is, are kids really capable of making such an important decision. It’s a double edged sword.

— the monk (@vanilagolira) December 1, 2020

“No, I agree with it. If someone isn’t mature enough to drive, drink, have sex, vote, etc. how are they mature enough to use hormone stoppers?”

These arguments seemed to inject new intensity inside the hashtag with some of the jokes becoming harsher and the responses to the jokes becoming more emotional. People who supported the hashtag and still were going along with the idea that this was a joke began to Tweet posts mocking or calling out many of the cis people complaining about the hashtag.

“it really distresses me to see when cishets in the #startcisshaming tag say “damn this makes me want to reconsider supporting the lgbt community” because to me that says “this twitter hashtag makes me want to keep trans people oppressed because it makes fun of me” one user said.

On the other hand, many of the people against the hashtag began Tweeting about how it should stop trending and how the trend has been damaging the way people see the trans community.

“#startcisshaming seems like a bad attempt by one of the chan sites no create something that conservative online sources can point at for easy demonization. I don’t really think most trans friends would see this as anything other than unhelpful trash.” one user said.

“If you unnironically used or use #startcisshaming you’re just as bad as actual transphobes Shut up and leave the community already,” another user said.

If you unnironically used or use #startcisshaming you’re just as bad as actual transphobes

Shut up and leave the community already pic.twitter.com/xGXCbtZROz

— Toon (@Strawberry_Lass) December 1, 2020

While the controversy between the two groups continued, there was also a mini trend were people used the hashtag to recommend their favorite games to people browsing through. Many of the posts focused particularly on Team Fortress 2, a popular team based shooter with an original class system which came out in 2007.

“guys you should really play team fortress 2 its a good game i like it. it has healer guy, sentry man, fast man, drunk man, and big man its a really good game go check it out please i dont want the game to die its such a good game please please go play it now” one user tweeted.

In any case, #startcisshaming is yet another hashtag that has gone from jokes to a major Twitter issue spanning quite a few users. It certainly will not be the last.