I've got a new channel trailer for 2024 (it's live, you can see it if you want) and someone just decided to helpfully comment on it that I don't need to say I'm cis, because 'it's like saying I'm non-epileptic.'
So if you're the person who said that, I want you to understand that I've hidden your messages from my channel and you should really think a lot harder about what you're going to say, if that's coming from a well-intentioned space, because otherwise it sounds like you just said something that's both kinda ableist and kinda transphobic.
I tell people I'm cis. Part of why I do that is because it's non-obvious information. Another reason to do it is that I get misidentified, and I don't want people who are looking for 'trans creators' to mistakenly pick me. But also the real reason I say I'm cis on my channel is that the kind of people who complain about me mentioning an entirely neutral detail about myself are good at self-selecting into the 'ignoring this fuckin' weirdo' category.
(which is not the original headline, but it's how the author lists it on her website)
Its core argument is that there are some styles, some attributes, some performances of gender that do not get individualized. They are simply what one expects from someone of that gender. They go without saying. And there are others that do get individualized—that get attributed to the individual, or at least noted as an exception. And the essay gives names to these categories: “unmarked” and “marked”.
“cis” is currently, generally, unmarked. Most people don't mention it, and people notice when you do mention it. Some people even get bothered by mentioning it. But maybe that's worth changing.