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

As of July 2023, use of the term cisgender has been considered controversial. [32]

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. [33]

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", [34] saying non-trans is clearer to average people. [34]

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". [35]

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". [36]

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. [37] [38] 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. [39]

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. [40]

Responses

Three decades later, in a personal essay, Defosse said she did not intend the word as an insult. She says she does not believe the word cisgender "caused problems –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.

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, people think about a person's gender expression in terms of masculinity and femininity, but there are many ways to mix both feminine and masculine in identity. 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.

The American-Canadian sexologist Ray Blanchard proposed a psychological typology of gender dysphoria, transsexualism, and fetishistic transvestism in a series of academic papers through the 1980s and 1990s. Building on the work of earlier researchers, including his colleague Kurt Freund, Blanchard categorized trans women into two groups: homosexual transsexuals who are attracted exclusively to men and are feminine in both behavior and appearance; and autogynephilic transsexuals who experience sexual arousal at the idea of having a female body. Blanchard and his supporters argue that the typology explains differences between the two groups in childhood gender nonconformity, sexual orientation, history of sexual fetishism, and age of transition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Serano</span> American writer and activist

Julia Michelle Serano is an American writer, musician, spoken-word performer, transgender and bisexual activist, and biologist. She is known for her transfeminist books, such as Whipping Girl (2007), Excluded (2013), and Outspoken (2016). She is also a public speaker who has given many talks at universities and conferences. Her writing is frequently featured in queer, feminist, and popular culture magazines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender</span> Gender identity other than sex assigned at birth

A transgender person is someone whose gender identity differs from that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. Some transgender people who desire medical assistance to transition from one sex to another identify as transsexual. Transgender is also an umbrella term; in addition to including people whose gender identity is the opposite of their assigned sex, it may also include people who are non-binary or genderqueer. Other definitions of transgender also include people who belong to a third gender, or else conceptualize transgender people as a third gender. The term may also include cross-dressers or drag kings and drag queens in some contexts. The term transgender does not have a universally accepted definition, including among researchers.

<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

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

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

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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.

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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.

Cisgenderism or cissexism is an ideology that challenges people's gender identities and thus leads to discrimination against gender variant people. It is systematic, and reflected in culture and the practices of legal authorities. Cisgenderism includes normative ideas about gender, which lead to the exclusion of intersex people and cultures with systems of gender different from the Western norm, and people who do not conform to the norms of cisgenderism are categorized as transgender, nonbinary, gender fluid, etc.

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. ↑ "The True Meaning of the Word 'Cisgender'". www.advocate.com. July 31, 2015. Archived from the original on August 3, 2015. Retrieved November 26, 2021. With such phenomena as angry hashtags on the fringes of social media proclaiming #DieCisScum and passionate op-eds defiantly declaring "I Am NOT Cisgendered," the cisgender population seems to be having an identity crisis.
  33. ↑ Aultman, B. (May 1, 2014). "Cisgender". Transgender Studies Quarterly. Duke University Press. 1 (1–2): 61–62. doi: 10.1215/23289252-2399614 .
  34. 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.
  35. ↑ Marinucci, Mimi (2010). Feminism is Queer: The Intimate Connection between Queer and Feminist Theory . Zed Books. pp.  125–126.
  36. ↑ "The True Meaning of the Word 'Cisgender'". www.advocate.com. July 31, 2015. Archived from the original on August 3, 2015. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
  37. ↑ Domurat Dreger, Alice (2001). Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex. US: Harvard University Press. ISBN   978-0-674-00189-3.
  38. ↑ Eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization, An interagency statement Archived July 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine , World Health Organization, May 2014.
  39. ↑ 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.
  40. ↑ 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.

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