Cisgender
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Cisgender (often shortened to cis; sometimes cissexual) is a term used to describe a person whose
gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...
corresponds to their
sex assigned at birth Sex assignment (sometimes known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex at or before birth. A relative, midwife, nurse or physician inspects the external genitalia when the baby is delivered and, in more than 99.95% of bi ...
. The word ''cisgender'' is the
antonym In lexical semantics, opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is ''long'' entails that it is not ''short''. It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members ...
of ''
transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
''. The prefix '' cis-'' is Latin and means 'on this side of'. The term ''cisgender'' was coined in 1994 and entered into dictionaries starting in 2015 as a result of societal changes in the way gender is conceived and discussed. The term has at times been controversial and subject to critique. Related concepts are
cisnormativity Cisnormativity or cissexual assumption is the assumption that everyone is, or ought to be, cisgender. The term can further refer to a wider range of presumptions about gender assignment, such as the presumption of a gender binary, or expectations ...
(the presumption that cisgender identity is preferred or
normal Normal(s) or The Normal(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Normal'' (2003 film), starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson * ''Normal'' (2007 film), starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, and Andrew Airlie * ''Norma ...
) and
cissexism Cisnormativity or cissexual assumption is the assumption that everyone is, or ought to be, cisgender. The term can further refer to a wider range of presumptions about gender assignment, such as the presumption of a gender binary, or expectations ...
(bias or prejudice favoring cisgender people).


Etymology and usage

''Cisgender'' has its origin in the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
-derived prefix , meaning 'on this side of', which is the opposite of , meaning 'across from' or 'on the other side of'. This usage can be seen in the cis–trans distinction in chemistry, the cis and trans sides of the
Golgi apparatus The Golgi apparatus (), also known as the Golgi complex, Golgi body, or simply the Golgi, is an organelle found in most eukaryotic cells. Part of the endomembrane system in the cytoplasm, it packages proteins into membrane-bound vesicles ins ...
in cellular biology, the cis–trans or complementation test in genetics, in
Ciscaucasia The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...
(from the Russian perspective), in the ancient Roman term
Cisalpine Gaul Cisalpine Gaul ( la, Gallia Cisalpina, also called ''Gallia Citerior'' or ''Gallia Togata'') was the part of Italy inhabited by Celts (Gauls) during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. After its conquest by the Roman Republic in the 200s BC it was con ...
(i.e., '
Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
on this side of the
Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
'),
Ciskei Ciskei (, or ) was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people-located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian O ...
and
Transkei Transkei (, meaning ''the area beyond he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei ( xh, iRiphabliki yeTranskei), was an unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Ban ...
(separated by the
Kei River The Great Kei River is a river in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is formed by the confluence of the Black Kei River and White Kei River, northeast of Cathcart. It flows for and ends in the Great Kei Estuary at the Indian Ocean wi ...
), and more recently,
Cisjordan The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
, as distinguished from
Transjordan Transjordan may refer to: * Transjordan (region), an area to the east of the Jordan River * Oultrejordain, a Crusader lordship (1118–1187), also called Transjordan * Emirate of Transjordan, British protectorate (1921–1946) * Hashemite Kingdom of ...
. In the case of gender, ''cis-'' describes the alignment of gender identity with assigned sex. Sociologists Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook define ''cisgender'' as a label for "individuals who have a match between the gender they were assigned at birth, their bodies, and their personal identity". A number of derivatives of the terms ''cisgender'' and ''cissexual'' include ''cis male'' for "male assigned male at birth", ''cis female'' for "female assigned female at birth", analogously ''cis man'' and ''cis woman'', and ''
cissexism Cisnormativity or cissexual assumption is the assumption that everyone is, or ought to be, cisgender. The term can further refer to a wider range of presumptions about gender assignment, such as the presumption of a gender binary, or expectations ...
'' and ''
cissexual assumption Cisnormativity or cissexual assumption is the assumption that everyone is, or ought to be, cisgender. The term can further refer to a wider range of presumptions about gender assignment, such as the presumption of a gender binary, or expectations ...
''. In addition, one study published in the ''
Journal of the International AIDS Society The ''Journal of the International AIDS Society'' (JIAS) is an official open-access, peer-reviewed, medical journal of the International AIDS Society. Founded in 2004 by Mark Wainberg, the journal covers all aspects of research on HIV and AIDS. ...
'' used the term ''cisnormativity'', akin to ''
heteronormativity Heteronormativity is the concept that heterosexuality is the preferred or normal mode of sexual orientation. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are most ...
''. Eli R. Green wrote in 2006, "'cisgendered' is used nstead of the more popular 'gender normative'!--PLEASE PRESERVE this bracketed text – this is an exact quotation--> to refer to people who do not identify with a gender diverse experience, without enforcing existence of a normative gender expression".
Julia Serano Julia Michelle Serano (; born 1967) is an American writer, musician, spoken-word performer, trans– bi activist, and biologist. She is known for her transfeminist books ''Whipping Girl'' (2007), ''Excluded'' (2013), and ''Outspoken'' (2016). Sh ...
has defined ''cissexual'' as "people who are not
transsexual Transsexual people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (including sex reassignment ...
and who have only ever experienced their mental and physical sexes as being aligned", while ''cisgender'' is a slightly narrower term for those who do not identify as transgender (a larger cultural category than the more clinical ''transsexual''). For Jessica Cadwallader, ''cissexual'' is "a way of drawing attention to the
unmarked In linguistics and social sciences, markedness is the state of standing out as nontypical or divergent as opposed to regular or common. In a marked–unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one. The dominant defau ...
norm, against which
trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom * ''Trans'' (film ...
is identified, in which a person feels that their
gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...
matches their body/sex". Jillana Enteen wrote in 2009 that ''cissexual'' is "meant to show that there are embedded assumptions encoded in expecting this seamless conformity". Serano also uses the related term ''cissexism'', "which is the belief that transsexuals' identified genders are inferior to, or less authentic than, those of cissexuals". In 2010, the term ''cisgender privilege'' appeared in academic literature, defined as the "set of unearned advantages that individuals who identify as the gender they were assigned at birth accrue solely due to having a cisgender identity". Medical academics use the term and have recognized its importance in transgender studies since the 1990s.


History

The term ''cisgender'' was coined in 1994 in a
Usenet Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...
newsgroup about transgender topics. German
sexologist Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism. Sexologists app ...
Volkmar Sigusch Volkmar Sigusch (born 11 June 1940) is a German sexologist, physician and sociologist. From 1973 to 2006, he was the director of the ''Institut für Sexualwissenschaft'' (Institute for Sexual Science) at the clinic of Goethe University in Frankf ...
used the
neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
''cissexual'' ( in German) in his 1998 essay "The Neosexual Revolution". He cites his two-part 1991 article "" ("Transsexuals and our nosomorphic view") as the origin of that term. The terms ''cisgender'' and ''cissexual'' were used in a 2006 article in the ''Journal of Lesbian Studies'' and Serano's 2007 book ''
Whipping Girl ''Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity'' is a 2007 book by the gender theorist, biologist, and writer Julia Serano. The book is a transfeminist manifesto that makes the case that transphobia is rooted ...
'', after which the term gained some popularity among English-speaking activists and scholars. In February 2014,
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
began offering "custom" gender options, allowing users to identify with one or more gender-related terms from a selected list, including cis, cisgender, and others. ''Cisgender'' was also added to the ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'' in 2015, defined as "designating a person whose sense of personal identity corresponds to the sex and gender assigned to him or her at birth (in contrast with transgender)". '' Perspectives on History'' has stated that since this inclusion, the term ''cisgender'' has increasingly become common usage.


Critiques

Use of the term ''cisgender'' has at times been controversial. Novelist
John Boyne John Boyne (born 30 April 1971) is an Irish novelist. He is the author of eleven novels for adults and six novels for younger readers. His novels are published in over 50 languages. His 2006 novel '' The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'' was adapt ...
rejected the use of the term ''cisgender'' in an article in ''The'' ''Irish Times''. He considers himself not as a cis man, but as just a man. He argues that one person should not "force an unwanted term onto another".


From feminism and gender studies

Krista Scott-Dixon wrote in 2009: "I prefer the term non-trans to other options such as cissexual/cisgendered." She believes the term "non-trans" is clearer to average people and will help normalize transgender individuals. Women's and gender studies scholar Mimi Marinucci writes that some consider the ''cisgender–transgender'' binary distinction to be just as dangerous or self-defeating as the masculine–feminine gender binary because it lumps together people who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) arbitrarily and over-simplistically with a
heteronormative Heteronormativity is the concept that heterosexuality is the preferred or normal mode of sexual orientation. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are most ...
class of people as opposed to with transgender people. Characterizing LGB individuals together with heterosexual, non-trans people may problematically suggest that LGB individuals, unlike transgender individuals, "experience no mismatch between their own gender identity and
gender expression Gender expression, or gender presentation, is a person's behavior, mannerisms, interests, and appearance that are associated with gender, specifically with the categories of femininity or masculinity. This also includes gender roles. These cat ...
and cultural expectations regarding gender identity and expression". Gender studies professor Chris Freeman criticises the term, describing it as "clunky, unhelpful and maybe even regressive" for " reating- or re- reating- a gender binary".


From intersex organizations

Intersex Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bina ...
people are born with atypical physical sex characteristics that can complicate initial sex assignment and lead to involuntary or coercive medical treatment.Eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization, An interagency statement
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
, May 2014.
The term cisgender "can get confusing" in relation to people with intersex conditions, although some intersex people use the term according to the
Interact Advocates for Intersex Youth Advocates for Informed Choice, doing business as, dba interACT or interACT Advocates for Intersex Youth, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization using innovative strategies to advocate for the legal and human rights of children with intersex trai ...
Inter/Act project.
Hida Viloria Hida Viloria (born May 29, 1968) is a Latine American writer, author, producer, and human rights activist. Viloria is intersex, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming, using they/them pronouns. They are known for their writing, their intersex and n ...
of
Intersex Campaign for Equality The Intersex Campaign for Equality (IC4E) is a NGO, non-governmental organization that advocates for the intersex human rights, human rights of intersex people. It was formerly the US affiliate of Organisation Intersex International. History and s ...
notes that, as a person born with an intersex body who has a non-binary sense of gender identity that "matches" their body, they are both cisgender and gender non-conforming, presumably opposites according to cisgender's definition, and that this evidences the term's basis on a binary sex model that does not account for intersex people's existence. Viloria also critiques the fact that the term "sex assigned at birth" is used in one of cisgender's definitions without noting that babies are assigned male or female regardless of intersex status in most of the world, stating that doing so obfuscates the birth of intersex babies and frames gender identity within a binary male/female sex model that fails to account for both the existence of natally congruent gender non-conforming gender identities, and gender-based discrimination against intersex people based on natal sex characteristics rather than on gender identity or expression, such as "normalizing" infant genital surgeries.Caught in the Gender Binary Blind Spot: Intersex Erasure in Cisgender Rhetoric
Hida Viloria Hida Viloria (born May 29, 1968) is a Latine American writer, author, producer, and human rights activist. Viloria is intersex, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming, using they/them pronouns. They are known for their writing, their intersex and n ...
, August 18, 2014. Retrieved October 17, 2014.


See also

*
Feminist views on transgender topics Feminist views on transgender topics vary widely. Third-wave feminists and fourth-wave feminists tend to view the struggle for trans rights as an integral part of intersectional feminism. Former president of the American National Organization f ...
*
Gender taxonomy The gender taxonomy is a classification of the range of different levels at which humans vary in sexual characteristics. It is mainly used by medical specialists working in the area of sex research. "A review of cross-gender taxonomies shows that ...
*
List of transgender-related topics The following outline offers an overview and guide to transgender topics. The term "transgender" is multi-faceted and complex, especially where consensual and precise definitions have not yet been reached. While often the best way to find out ho ...
* Womyn-born womyn *
Endosex An ''endosex'' person is someone whose innate sex characteristics fit normative medical or social ideas for female or male bodies. The word ''endosex'' is an antonym of ''intersex''. Etymology and meaning The prefix '' endo-'' comes from the An ...


References


Further reading

* Gorton R., Buth J., and Spade D.
Medical Therapy and Health Maintenance for Transgender Men: A Guide for Health Care Providers
''. Lyon-Martin Women's Health Services. San Francisco, CA. 2005. *


External links


Gender and Sexuality Center FAQ
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
Division of Diversity and Community Engagement
The Queer Community Has to Stop Being Transphobic: Realizing My Cisgender Privilege
Todd Clayton, ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'', February 27, 2013
Researching Early Uses of “Cisgender”
Avery Dame,
American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...
Today, May 22, 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cisgender Gender identity Linguistic controversies Transgender 1990s neologisms 1994 neologisms