DEAR LEVEL
Please Don’t Call Me ‘Sis’ Unless You’re My Literal Brother
We know you mean well, but just… don’t
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
I’ve been lucky enough to have spent my life raised, surrounded, and loved by amazing Black men. When I was a young child, growing up with Black-and-proud parents, I’d often see men like my dad showing the utmost respect to women, especially Black women. This included greeting them with an honorific like “Sister.” For as long as I can remember, teachers, distant relatives, and family friends called my mom Sister Ree and my aunt Sister Jan. (Some people still call my mom Sister Ree.)
But at some point, and I’m not sure when, that honorific was replaced by a different, shorter, far less honorable one. Just plain Sis.
So let me say, with all the love ever: I really don’t like it when people call me Sis. Especially men.
It took a minute to figure out what irks me about it. And why it’s so much different than Sister. First, using the word Sis is almost always used with criticism, judgment, or both. Particularly online. Once, when I wrote an article about taking medication for an illness, folks hit me in the comments with things…
