cotton ceiling

English

Etymology

Coined by Canadian activist Drew Deveaux. Modelled on glass ceiling. Underwear is typically made from cotton.

Pronunciation

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Noun

cotton ceiling (plural cotton ceilings)

1. A social barrier to consideration (by cisgender women) of transgender women as viable sexual partners.
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cotton,‎ ceiling.
   • 1872, Mrs. Edward Millett, An Australian Parsonage; Or, The Settler and the Savage, page 56:

     On rough nights, however, the wind that finds its way beneath the rafters keeps drawing up and down the cotton ceiling in sudden gusts, and if the fastenings of your canopy are not very artfully contrived, one end or other of it is sure to give way […]

   • 1933, State of New York Supreme Court Record on Appeal, page 85:

     These ceilings on this house are not a canvas ceiling. They are a cotton ceiling and the water can drop on these ceilings […]

Related terms

• glass ceiling