Cisgender

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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 . [1] [2] [3] 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. [4] [5] The term has been and continues to be controversial and subject to critique.

Contents

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. [6] [7]

History and usage of the term

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." [8] [9] German sexologist Volkmar Sigusch used the term cissexual (zissexuell in German) in his two-part 1991 article "Die Transsexuellen und unser nosomorpher Blick" ("Transsexuals and our nosomorphic view"); in 1998, he said he had coined the term there. [10]

Coinage

The term cisgender itself was coined in English in 1994 in a Usenet newsgroup about transgender topics [11] 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. [12] Correspondingly, some trans activists 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.

Academic use

Medical academics use the term and have recognized its importance in transgender studies since the 1990s. [13] [14] [15] After the terms cisgender and cissexual were used in a 2006 article in the Journal of Lesbian Studies [16] and Serano's 2007 book Whipping Girl , [17] the former gained further popularity among English-speaking activists and scholars. [18] [19] [20] 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)". [21] Perspectives on History states that since this inclusion, the term has increasingly become common usage. [11]

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. [22] [23]

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". [2] 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, [24] [ failed verification ] and cissexism and cissexual assumption [25] or cisnormativity (akin to heteronormativity ). [26] [27] Eli R. Green wrote in 2006, "cisgendered is used [instead of the more popular gender normative] to refer to people who do not identify with a gender diverse experience, without enforcing existence of a normative gender expression". [28]

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). [17] 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". [29]

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". [30] 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". [31]

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. [32]

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", [33] saying non-trans is clearer to average people. [33]

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". [34]

Gender studies professor Chris Freeman criticizes the term, describing it as "clunky, unhelpful and maybe even regressive" and saying it "‍creates –or re-creates –a gender binary". [35]

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. [36] [37] 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. [38]

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'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. [39]

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. [40] [41] 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 a "heterosexual slur". [41] [42] The change came amid the loosening of other rules protecting LGBT users under his ownership, including removing rules prohibiting deadnaming. [40] [43]

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"; [35] 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. [35] 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 that 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." [35]

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." [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transphobia</span> Anti-transgender prejudice

Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to social gender roles. Transphobia is a type of prejudice and discrimination, similar to racism, sexism, or ableism, and it is closely associated with homophobia. Transgender people of color can experience many different forms of discrimination simultaneously.

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 individual's gender identity. Gender expression typically reflects a person's gender identity, but this is not always the case. While a person may express behaviors, attitudes, and appearances consistent with a particular gender role, such expression may not necessarily reflect their gender identity. The term gender identity was coined by psychiatry professor Robert J. Stoller in 1964 and popularized by controversial psychologist John Money.

Heteronormativity is the concept that heterosexuality is the preferred or normal sexual orientation. It assumes the gender binary and that sexual and marital relations are most fitting between people of opposite sex.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to transgender topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trans man</span> Man assigned female at birth

A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identity or alleviates gender dysphoria.

Gender expression, or gender presentation, is a person's behavior, mannerisms, and appearance that are socially associated with gender, namely femininity or masculinity. Gender expression can also be defined as the external manifestation of one's gender identity through behavior, clothing, hairstyles, voice, or body characteristics. Typically, a person's gender expression is thought of in terms of masculinity and femininity, but an individual's gender expression may incorporate both feminine and masculine traits, or neither. A person's gender expression may or may not match their assigned sex at birth. This includes gender roles, and accordingly relies on cultural stereotypes about gender. It is distinct from gender identity.

The gender binary is the classification of gender into two distinct forms of masculine and feminine, whether by social system, cultural belief, or both simultaneously. Most cultures use a gender binary, having two genders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transsexual</span> People experiencing a gender identity inconsistent with their assigned sex

A transsexual person is someone who experiences a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desires to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance to help them align their body with their identified sex or gender.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transmisogyny</span> Intersection of transphobia and misogyny, experienced by transfeminine individuals

Transmisogyny, otherwise known as trans-misogyny and transphobic misogyny, is the intersection of transphobia and misogyny as experienced by trans women and transfeminine people. The term was coined by Julia Serano in her 2007 book Whipping Girl to describe a particular form of oppression experienced by trans women. In an interview with The New York Times, Serano explores the roots of transmisogyny as a critique of feminine gender expressions which are "ridiculed in comparison to masculine interests and gender expression."

Discrimination against non-binary people, people who do not identify exclusively as male or female, may occur in social, legal, or medical contexts.

<i>Whipping Girl</i> 2007 book on transgender issues by Julia Serano

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 in sexism and that transgender activism is a feminist movement. The second edition of the book was published in March 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of LGBT topics</span> Overview of and topical guide to LGBT topics

The following outline offers an overview and guide to LGBT topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex and LGBT</span> Relationship between different sex and gender minorities

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) than endosex people, an estimated 52% identifying as non-heterosexual and 8.5% to 20% experiencing gender dysphoria. Although many intersex people are heterosexual and cisgender, this overlap and "shared experiences of harm arising from dominant societal sex and gender norms" has led to intersex people often being included under the LGBT umbrella, with the acronym sometimes expanded to LGBTI. Some intersex activists and organisations have criticised this inclusion as distracting from intersex-specific issues such as involuntary medical interventions.

LGBT erasure refers to the tendency to intentionally or unintentionally remove LGBT groups or people from record, or downplay their significance, which includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. This erasure can be found in a number of written and oral texts, including popular and scholarly texts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex people and military service</span> Minority in military service

Military service of intersex people varies greatly by country. Some armed forces such as the Australian Defence Force fully embrace intersex people in the modern era, while others such as the United States Armed Forces have vague rules or policies or treat the subject on a case by case basis.

Homonormativity is the adoption of heteronormative ideals and constructs onto LGBT culture and identity. It is predicated on the assumption that the norms and values of heterosexuality should be replicated and performed among homosexual people. Those who assert this theory claim homonormativity selectively privileges cisgendered homosexuality as worthy of social acceptance.

An endosex person is someone whose innate sex characteristics fit normative medical ideas for female or male bodies. The word endosex is an antonym of intersex.

Discrimination against transgender men and transmasculine individuals, sometimes referred to as transandrophobia, anti-transmasculinity, or transmisandry, is a similar concept to transmisogyny and discrimination against non-binary people. Transmisogyny, discrimination against transgender men and discrimination against non-binary people are types of transphobia which affect trans women, trans men and non-binary people respectively.

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 of conformity to gender roles even when transgender identities are otherwise acknowledged. Cisnormativity is a form of cisgenderism, an ideology which promotes various normative ideas about gender, to the invalidation of individuals' own gender identities, analogous to heterosexism or ableism.

References

  1. ↑ "cisgender". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. n.d. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
  2. 1 2 Schilt, Kristen; Westbrook, Laurel (August 2009). "Doing Gender, Doing Heteronormativity: 'Gender Normals,' Transgender People, and the Social Maintenance of Heterosexuality". Gender & Society . 23 (4): 440–64 [461]. doi:10.1177/0891243209340034. S2CID   145354177.
  3. ↑ Blank, Paula. "Will the Word "Cisgender" Ever Go Mainstream?". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
  4. ↑ Martin, Katherine. "New words notes June 2015". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on August 14, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Tracing Terminology | Perspectives on History | AHA". www.historians.org. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Definition of cisgender". Merriam Webster. Archived from the original on April 23, 2016. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  7. ↑ Wordsworth, Dot (November 7, 2015). "How we ended up 'cisgender':The history of a tendentious word". The Spectator . Archived from the original on November 12, 2015.
  8. ↑ Bey, Marquis (2022). "Heart of Cisness". Cistem Failure: Essays on Blackness and Cisgender. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 29. ISBN   9781478018445. OCLC   1290721475.
  9. ↑ Burchard, Ernst (1914). Lexikon des gesamten Sexuallebens (in German). Berlin: Adler-Verlag GmbH. p. 32. Retrieved June 22, 2023. Cisvestitismus, die Neigung, die Kleidung einer anderen Altersstufe, Volks- oder Berufsklasse des gleichen Geschlechts zum Zwecke sexueller Entspannung anzulegen, dem Transvestitismus verwandt.
  10. ↑ Sigusch, Volkmar (February 1998). "The Neosexual Revolution". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 27 (4): 331–359. doi:10.1023/A:1018715525493. PMID   9681118. S2CID   25826510.
  11. 1 2 "Tracing Terminology | Perspectives on History | AHA". www.historians.org. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
  12. 1 2 Defosse, Dana (February 18, 2023). "I Coined The Term 'Cisgender' 29 Years Ago. Here's What This Controversial Word Really Means". HuffPost. Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  13. ↑ Aultman, B (2014). "Cisgender". TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. 1 (1–2): 61. doi: 10.1215/23289252-2399614 .
  14. ↑ Tate, Charlotte Chucky; Bettergarcia, Jay N.; Brent, Lindsay M. (2015). "Re-assessing the Role of Gender-Related Cognitions for Self-Esteem: The Importance of Gender Typicality for Cisgender Adults". Psychology & Psychiatry Journal. 72 (5–6): 221–236. doi:10.1007/s11199-015-0458-0. S2CID   18437100.
  15. ↑ "New Mental Health Study Findings Have Been Reported by Investigators at Brown University (Gender Minority Stress, Mental Health, and Relationship Quality: A Dyadic Investigation of Transgender Women and Their Cisgender Male Partners)". Mental Health Weekly Digest. 9: 224. 2015.
  16. ↑ Green, Eli R. (2006). "Debating Trans Inclusion in the Feminist Movement: A Trans-Positive Analysis". Journal of Lesbian Studies. 10 (1–2): 231–248. doi:10.1300/J155v10n01_12. PMID   16873223. S2CID   40988200.
  17. 1 2 Serano, Julia (2007). Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity . Seal Press. p.  12. ISBN   978-1-58005-154-5.
  18. ↑ Pfeffer, Carla (2009). Trans (Formative) Relationships: What We Learn About Identities, Bodies, Work and Families from Women Partners of Trans Men (Ph.D). University of Michigan.
  19. ↑ Williams, Rhaisa (November 2010). "Contradictory Realities, Infinite Possibilities: Language Mobilization and Self-Articulation Amongst Black Trans Women". Penn McNair Research Journal. 2 (1).
  20. ↑ Drescher, Jack (September 2009). "Queer Diagnoses: Parallels and Contrasts in the History of Homosexuality, Gender Variance, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 39 (2): 427–460. doi:10.1007/s10508-009-9531-5. PMID   19838785. S2CID   13062141.
  21. ↑ Martin, Katherine. "New words notes June 2015". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on August 14, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  22. ↑ Brandon Griggs (February 13, 2014). "Facebook goes beyond 'male' and 'female' with new gender options". CNN . Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  23. ↑ The Associated Press. "Facebook's New Gender Identity Options". Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  24. ↑ Brydum, Sunnivie (July 31, 2015). "The true meaning of the word 'cisgender'". The Advocate . Archived from the original on August 3, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  25. ↑ Serano, Julia (2007). Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity . Berkeley: Seal Press. pp.  164–165. ISBN   978-1580051545.
  26. ↑ Logie, Carmen; James, Lana; Tharao, Wangari; Mona Loutfy (2012). "We don't exist: a qualitative study of marginalization experienced by HIV-positive lesbian, bisexual, queer and transgender women in Toronto, Canada". Journal of the International AIDS Society. 15 (2): 17392. doi:10.7448/ias.15.2.17392. PMC   3494165 . PMID   22989529. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  27. ↑ Ou Jin Lee, Edward; Brotman, Shari (2011). "Identity, Refugeeness, Belonging: Experiences of Sexual Minority Refugees in Canada". Canadian Review of Sociology. 48 (3): 241–274. doi:10.1111/j.1755-618X.2011.01265.x. PMID   22214042.
  28. ↑ Green, Eli R. (2006). "Debating Trans Inclusion in the Feminist Movement: A Trans-Positive Analysis". Journal of Lesbian Studies. 10 (1/2): 231–248 [247]. doi:10.1300/j155v10n01_12. PMID   16873223. S2CID   40988200.
  29. ↑ Sullivan, Nikki; Murray, Samantha (2009). Somatechnics: queering the technologisation of bodies . Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing. p.  17. ISBN   978-0-7546-7530-3.
  30. ↑ Serano (2007) also defines cisgender as synonymous with "non-transgender" and cissexual with "non-transsexual" (p. 33).
  31. ↑ Walls, N. E., & Costello, K. (2010). "Head ladies center for teacup chain": Exploring cisgender privilege in a (predominantly) gay male context. In S. Anderson and V. Middleton Explorations in diversity: Examining privilege and oppression in a multicultural society, 2nd ed. (pp. 81−93). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. Quote appears on p.83.
  32. ↑ Aultman, B. (May 1, 2014). "Cisgender". Transgender Studies Quarterly. 1 (1–2). Duke University Press: 61–62. doi: 10.1215/23289252-2399614 .
  33. 1 2 Scott-Dixon, Krista (2009). "Public health, private parts: A feminist public-health approach to trans issues". Hypatia. 24 (3): 33–55. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.2009.01044.x. S2CID   145160039.
  34. ↑ Marinucci, Mimi (2010). Feminism is Queer: The Intimate Connection between Queer and Feminist Theory . Zed Books. pp.  125–126.
  35. 1 2 3 4 Brydum, Sunnivie (July 31, 2015). "The True Meaning of the Word 'Cisgender'". The Advocate . Archived from the original on August 3, 2015. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
  36. ↑ Domurat Dreger, Alice (2001). Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex. US: Harvard University Press. ISBN   978-0-674-00189-3.
  37. ↑ Eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization, An interagency statement Archived July 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine , World Health Organization, May 2014.
  38. ↑ Inter/Act Youth • Inter/Act has been working with MTV's Faking It on... Archived September 16, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Inter/Act Youth. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
  39. ↑ Caught in the Gender Binary Blind Spot: Intersex Erasure in Cisgender Rhetoric Archived November 12, 2020, at the Wayback Machine , Hida Viloria, August 18, 2014. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
  40. 1 2 "Elon Musk Dials Up Transphobia on Twitter, Says 'Cis' Is a Slur". The Advocate. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  41. 1 2 Andrade, Sofia (July 3, 2023). "Elon Musk says 'cis' is a slur. It's basic Latin". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  42. ↑ McHardy, Martha (October 31, 2023). "Elon Musk sparks backlash by claiming the word 'cis' is a 'heterosexual slur'". The Independent. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  43. ↑ Hansford, Amelia (January 11, 2024). "Elon Musk thinks cis is a 'heterosexual slur'. He's entirely incorrect". PinkNews. Retrieved May 21, 2024.

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