cisgender

The word ''cisgender'' (often shortened to ''cis''; sometimes ''cissexual'') describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth, i.e., someone who is not ''transgender''. The prefix '' cis-'' is Latin and means ''on this side of''. The term ''cisgender'' was coined in 1994 as an antonym to ''transgender'', and entered into dictionaries starting in 2015 as a result of changes in social discourse about gender.

Related concepts are cisnormativity (the presumption that cisgender identity is preferred or normal) and cissexism (bias or prejudice favoring cisgender people).

Etymology

The term ''cisgender'' has its origin in the Latin-derived prefix '' cis-'', meaning 'on this side of', which is the opposite of '' trans-'', 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 in cellular biology, the ancient Roman term '' Cisalpine Gaul'' (i.e. 'Gaul on this side of the Alps'), and Cisjordan (as distinguished from Transjordan). In ''cisgender'', ''cis-'' describes the alignment of gender identity with assigned sex.

History and usage of the term

Coinage

German

Marquis Bey states that "proto-cisgender discourse" arose in German in 1914, when Ernst Burchard introduced the cis/trans distinction to sexology by contrasting "''cisvestitismus'', or a type of inclination to wear gender-conforming clothing, ..with ''transvestitismus'', or cross-dressing." German sexologist Volkmar Sigusch used the term ''cissexual'' ( in German) in his two-part 1991 article "" ("Transsexuals and our nosomorphic view"); in 1998, he said he had coined the term there.

English

The term ''cisgender'' was coined in English in 1994 in a Usenet newsgroup about transgender topics as Dana Defosse, then a graduate student, sought a way to refer to non-transgender people that avoided marginalizing transgender people or implying that transgender people were an other. John Hollister used it that same year. In 1995, Carl Buijs used it, apparently coining it independently.

Academic use

Medical academics use the term and have recognized its importance in transgender studies since the 1990s. After the terms ''cisgender'' and ''cissexual'' were used in a 2006 article in the ''Journal of Lesbian Studies'' and Serano's 2007 book '' Whipping Girl'', the former gained further popularity among English-speaking activists and scholars. ''Cisgender'' was added to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' 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'' states that since this inclusion, the term has increasingly become common usage.

Social media

In February 2014, Facebook 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.

Definitions

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'' and '' cissexual assumption'' or ''cisnormativity'' (akin to '' heteronormativity''). EliR. 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".

Others have similarly argued that using terms such as ''man'' or ''woman'' to mean ''cis man'' or ''cis woman'' reinforced cisnormativity, and that instead using the prefix ''cis'' similarly to ''trans'' would counteract the cisnormative connotations within language.

Julia Serano has defined ''cissexual'' as "people who are not transsexual 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 norm, against which trans is identified, in which a person feels that their gender identity matches their body/sex".

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".

Critiques

While intended to be a positive descriptor to distinguish between trans and non-trans identity, the term has been met with criticisms in more recent years.

From feminism and gender studies

Krista Scott-Dixon wrote in 2009 that she preferred "the term ''non-trans'' to other options such as ''cissexual''/''cisgendered''", saying ''non-trans'' is clearer to average people.

Women's and gender studies scholar Mimi Marinucci writes that some consider the 'cisgender–transgender' binary distinction to be as dangerous or self-defeating as the masculine–feminine gender binary because it lumps people who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) together (over-simplistically, in her view) with a heteronormative class of people in an opposition with transgender people; she says that 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 and cultural expectations regarding gender identity and expression".

Gender studies professor Chris Freeman criticizes the term, describing it as "clunky, unhelpful and maybe even regressive" and saying it "createsor re-createsa gender binary".

From intersex organizations

Intersex people are born with atypical physical sex characteristics that can complicate initial sex assignment and lead to involuntary or coercive medical treatment. 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 Inter/Act project. Hida Viloria of Intersex Campaign for Equality 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'' 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'' 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.

From Elon Musk

In June 2023, Elon Musk, owner of social network Twitter (now X), stated that use of the words "cis" and "cisgender" on the platform as "targeted harassment" would constitute violations of its hateful content policy, as he considered them to be slurs. The changes came following an interaction between Musk and a gender-critical commentator, who alleged that pro-trans advocates were using forms of the word (such as "cissy", a variant of the pejorative '' sissy'') to insult him following a post in which he rejected the term. Musk has since described cisgender as being " heterophobic" and a "heterosexual slur". The change came amid the loosening of other rules protecting LGBT users under his ownership, including removing rules prohibiting deadnaming.

Responses to critiques

After the Oxford Dictionary added ''cisgender'' as a word in 2015, '' The Advocate'' wrote that "even among LGBT people, the word is hotly debated"; transgender veteran Brynn Tannehill argued that it was "often used in a negative way" by trans people to express "a certain level of contempt" for people they think should not partake in discussions on trans issues. Transgender scholar K.J. Rawson, by contrast, stated that "cis" was "not meant to be dismissive, but rather descriptive", and was no different than using the word "straight" to describe people who are heterosexual. Rawson explained that people who are straight "don't typically experience their heterosexuality as an identity, many don't identify as heterosexual—they don't need to, because culture has already done that for them", and that "similarly, cisgender people don't generally identify as cisgender because societal expectations already presume that they are."

In a 2023 essay, Defosse said she did not intend the word as an insult. She says she does not believe the word ''cisgender'' caused problems, and that "it only revealed them."

See also

* Endosex
* Feminist views on transgender topics
* Gender taxonomy
* List of transgender-related topics
* Womyn-born womyn

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 Division of Diversity and Community Engagement

The Queer Community Has to Stop Being Transphobic: Realizing My Cisgender Privilege
Todd Clayton, '' The Huffington Post'', February 27, 2013

Researching Early Uses of “Cisgender”
Avery Dame, American Historical Association Today, May 22, 2017

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cisgender
Gender identity
Linguistic controversies
Transgender topics
1990s neologisms
1994 neologisms